FY26 BUDGET SEASON: Preview of 5/15's Boston Police Hearings
Skyrocketing BPD pay, slow civilian flagwaver rollout, & overtime costs expected to be top issues
The Boston Police Department has always been an important part budget season - it makes up almost 10% of Boston’s operating budget - but since the Council gained the ability to make more detailed changes to Boston’s budget in 2021, BPD’s budget has been where Councilors take money to pay for other priorities. So far all three budgets of Mayor Wu’s term - 2022, 2023, and 2024 - have featured the Council making changes to BPD’s budget, and Mayor Wu vetoing those changes.
The target of those cuts has been BPD’s overtime budget. This year, BPD overtime is likely to be an bigger issue than usual, for two big reasons:
BPD skyrocketed in 2024, as demonstrated by BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper’s $349k salary going from the #7 highest in Boston in 2023 down to #224, thanks almost entirely to BPD officers;
Replacing BPD officers with civilian flagwavers has long been seen as a way to combat the expensive overtime that allows BPD officers to hit those numbers, and a contract was recently issued to run BPD’s civilian flagwavers program to a company run by former BPD Commissioner Ed Davis,
The big question that this hearing should answer: are the sky high 2024 salaries a one-time cost from BPD settling all of its unions’ contracts, or is this the new normal?
THURSDAY, MAY 15, 10 AM, IANNELLA CHAMBER
The listed topic for this hearing is “Boston Police Department (BPD) - Mental Health and Substance Abuse Response, Community Policing, Firearms, Homicides, Crime Lab, Canine Revolving Fund, Fitness Center Revolving Fund.” Check out more from the public notice for this hearing.
WHERE TO FIND IN THE FY26 BUDGET BOOK?
None of the topics listed in the hearing order are departments with specific line-items, so BPI is listing all of the offices in BPD.
Boston Police Department - p. 1002-1036
Police Commissioner's Office - p. 1010
Bureau of Community Engagement - p. 1011
BAT-Operations - p. 1012
BAT-Admin & Technology - p. 1013
Bureau of Professional Development - p. 1014
Bureau of Field Services - p. 1015
Bureau of Professional Standards - p. 1016
Bureau of Investigative Services - p. 1017
Bureau of Intelligence & Analysis - p. 1018
BUDGET NUMBERS IN FY25 vs FY26?
Boston Police Department - $475,152,433 in FY25 vs $477,344,876 in FY26, a $2,192,443 or <1% increase vs FY25
Police Commissioner's Office - $14,924,521 in FY25 vs $15,156,531 in FY26
Bureau of Community Engagement - $4,297,896 in FY25 vs $4,551,062 in FY26
BAT-Operations - $22,587,488 in FY25 vs $23,745,387 in FY26
BAT-Admin & Technology - $89,073,881 in FY25 vs $93,561,175 in FY26
Bureau of Professional Development - $13,291,503 in FY25 vs $10,710,315 in FY26
Bureau of Field Services - $243,406,447 in FY25 vs $247,242,855 in FY26
Bureau of Professional Standards - $6,731,292 in FY25 vs $4,631,203 in FY26
Bureau of Investigative Services - $76,961,414 in FY25 vs $73,588,745 in FY25
Bureau of Intelligence & Analysis - $3,877,991 in FY25 vs $4,157,603 in FY26
WAS IT IN THE MAYOR’S BUDGET LETTER?
There are two mentions of BPD, both on p. 5. First there BPD is included in the plan to repair, renovate, and replace municipal buildings:
The Plan also invests over $188 million in state of good repair needs for municipal facilities, including community centers, libraries, fire houses, police stations, and City Hall.
Second, BPD is included in the plan to continue recruiting public safety personnel:
To support continued progress on community safety, Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Services will continue to utilize their cadet programs as a recruiting feeder for budgeted replacement recruit classes so our first responder workforce is fully staffed and reflects the residents of Boston. In FY26, Police will recruit two replacement classes scheduled for Winter and Spring of 2026, and Fire will include the first cohort of Cadets in its Fall 2025 recruitment class.
WHAT IS BPI WATCHING FOR?
Outside of policy questions like updates on the Eddy Chrispin demotion, Boston’s much higher year-over-year murder rate, and how BPD is handling the “mini Mass & Cass” in downtown Boston, there are two issues that BPI will be watching for:
Why did the budgets for the Professional Standards and Investigative Bureaus go down?
How much time will the Council spend trying to find places to cut BPD in order to fund other priorities?
THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2 PM, IANNELLA CHAMBER
The listed topic for this hearing is “Boston Police Department (BPD) - Overtime, Detail System, Officer Mental Health, Diversity and Recruiting.” Check out more from the public notice for this hearing.
WHERE TO FIND IN THE FY26 BUDGET BOOK?
The only topic for in this hearing order that has a specific line-item is Overtime:
Overtime - p. 1005
BUDGET NUMBERS IN FY25 vs FY26?
Overtime Budget for BPD under Mayor Wu - the appropriated numbers are not a typo:
FY23 - $43,923,226 appropriated vs $77,753,025 spent
FY24 - $43,923,226 appropriated vs $112,440,183 spent
FY25 - $54,740,646 appropriated vs total spent not available
FY26 - $54,740,647 appropriated
Looking for more historic budget information? Check out the City’s past budget books here.
WAS IT IN THE MAYOR’S BUDGET LETTER?
See previous
WHAT IS BPI WATCHING FOR?
The subjects for this hearing are mentioned twice in the executive summary, and BPI is watching to see if BPD provides more detailed updates.
First, on p. 37 these two lines explained what went into BPD’s $2.1M budget increase:
The primary driver includes the addition of two new contracts to support the modernization of detail assignments. Detail work provide critical public safety support to construction projects and in FY26 assignments will be available through an app to a wider pool of trained employees.
There is not more information, so one question BPI will be looking for: is one of these two detail modernization contracts the same contract awarded to Ed Davis’ company?
Second, on p. 38, needs to be explained in light of the huge run up in BPD officers salaries seen in 2024:
BPD will continue working to reduce overtime hours in FY26, including its successful efforts to return to duty officers who are on injured leave.
Whether or not the number of overtime hours being worked is lower, the cost of overtime to BPD does not appear to be going down. That is what the Council heard last fall, when BPD reported that overtime spending in the calendar year 2024 was expected to top $100M. That is in line with FY24’s overtime expenditure - $112M - and if that spending continued into 2025 would be about twice what that line-item was budgeted for - $54M - in FY25.
Exactly how much the City expects to spend on overtime in FY25 is something Councilors will be looking for.
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