FY26 BUDGET SEASON: Preview of Week 4 Hearings, Part 2
This is part 2 of this week’s preview of Council budget hearings, focused on Thursday’s hearings with the Boston Public Health Commission:
Thursday at 10 AM: Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) - BPHC Overview, Infectious Disease, Child Adolescent and Family Health, Violence Prevention, Behavioral Health and Wellness;
Thursday at 2 PM: Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) - Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Recovery Services, Homeless Services;
BPHC is not like other City departments, and is closer to the Boston Housing Authority and the Boston Planning & Development Agency. Here is how the budget book describes it:
Boston Public Health Commission (PHC), the City appropriation for the quasi-independent authority and successor to the Department of Health and Hospitals
BPHC’s status as a quasi-independent authority means that its budget includes the costs for health insurance and pension, costs that have not been included in any of the other budget previews.
Keep reading for more on Thursday’s hearings!
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 10 AM, IANNELLA CHAMBER
The listed topic for this hearing is “Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) - BPHC Overview, Infectious Disease, Child Adolescent and Family Health, Violence Prevention, Behavioral Health and Wellness.” Check out more from the public notice for this hearing.
A note on this preview: the topics listed in the 10 AM BPHC hearing budget do not neatly line up with the line items in the FY26 budget. For example, there is an “Infectious Disease Bureau,” with a number of component parts, but “Violence Prevention” is just a program inside “Public Health Service Centers.” That makes assigning page #’s and year-over-year budget changes difficult.
WHERE TO FIND IN THE FY26 BUDGET BOOK?
Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) - p. 874-911
BUDGET NUMBERS IN FY25 vs FY26?
Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) - $140,204,584 in FY25 vs $144,373,120 in FY26, a $4,168,536 of 3% increase vs FY25
WAS IT IN THE MAYOR’S BUDGET LETTER?
The mayor wrote at length in her FY26 budget letter:
The Boston Public Health Commission will focus on the most vulnerable populations snuggling with substance use disorder and homelessness, as well as the general health and well-being of all residents. The Boston Public Health Commission will utilize opioid settlement funds and its operating budget to continue tackling opioid overdoses. Additionally, the Commission will use existing resources to partner with local business organizations to target syringe collection in local business districts.
Additional changes were explained in the budget book’s executive summary, and are laid out in the ‘watching for’ section.
WHAT IS BPI WATCHING FOR?
There are three things that BPI is watching for:
Why was the decision made to “transfer of funding for trauma impacted families from the Office of Human Services to Boston Public Health Commission,” (p. 35) and what changes can be expected from this change?
BPHC is the fourth largest recipient of “external funds,” and thus seems extremely vulnerable to cuts in either the state or federal budget. Has the Trump administration targeted any of the federal programs that provide “external funds” to BPHC?
BPHC has one performance metrics listed in the summary: “Average estimated number of naloxone doses distributed.” How was this activity chosen as BPHC’s performance metric and are there other performance metrics that BPHC tracks?
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2 PM, IANNELLA CHAMBER
The listed topic for this hearing is “Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) - Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Recovery Services, Homeless Services.” Check out more from the public notice for this hearing.
Unlike the morning hearing, each of the topics for this hearing are listed as departments inside BPHC.
WHERE TO FIND IN THE FY26 BUDGET BOOK?
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) - p. 880
Recovery Services - p. 880
Homeless Services - p. 880
BUDGET NUMBERS IN FY25 vs FY26?
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) - $84,814,819 in FY25 vs $86,805,755 in FY26, a $1,990,937 or 2.3% increase vs FY25
Recovery Services - $9,881,256 in FY25 vs $10,197,579 in FY26, a $316,323 a 3.2% increase vs FY25
Homeless Services - $12,705,583 in FY25 vs $13,181,262 in FY26, a $475,679 or 3.7% vs FY25
WAS IT IN THE MAYOR’S BUDGET LETTER?
See above
WHAT IS BPI WATCHING FOR?
There is no detail in the BPHC budget. This is because BPHC is a quasi-independent authority, but the result is that there is very little detail information to ask questions about. For example, needle clean-up is a major issues, especially with last year’s end of a clean-up program funded by the COVID-era federal aid. BPHC has a “Mobile Sharps Team,” that the Wu administration claims is “sustaining a robust slate of programs that perform syringe disposal and collection,” but it is not a line item in the budget.
The needle clean-up program raises a big question that BPI is watching for: what is the relationship between the BPHC and the Office of Human Services?
The new director of Coordinated Response Team (CRT), which is housed in the Office of Human Services, was the person who spoke on the record to the Boston Globe in a February article about needle clean-up. Is Kellie Young at CRT in charge of the Mobile Sharps Team, or is someone from BPHC?
The question of relationships is also relevant to the move of homicide victim family support funding from Human Services to BPHC.
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