Prepare for Week 3 Hearings on Boston’s FY25 Budget
Planning Department before Council for first time in 60+ years, plus Departments responsible for Boston's Public Pools, Civilian Oversight of Policing, and Licensing
This is the third week of budget hearings, and BPI is continuing our short preview of each hearing this week, including:
Which departments and offices are appearing at each hearing;
Where to find each hearing’s focus in the 1,194 page budget book;
The FY25 vs FY24 numbers from the budget book for that hearing;
Highlight which spending priorities laid out in the budget letter on pages 3 to 6 are for that hearing’s topic; and
What BPI is watching for in each hearing.
This week will have some very interesting hearings:
A City of Boston Planning Department is going before the Boston City Council for the first time in more than 60 years and giving the Council and public a chance to get details on the most consequential piece of Mayor Michelle Wu’s reform of the City’s planning & development processes and bureaurcracy
The offices that are most responsible for the City’s patio dining, beer gardens, and night life go before the Council on Monday.
With summer in sight Boston’s major operator of public pools the Centers for Youth & Family goes before the Council on Tuesday.
Then on Thursday is the Office of Police Accountability & Transparency, which has been without an executive director since the first person to hold that job, Stephanie Everett, was appointed Suffolk County’s Register of Probate in 2023.
Here is the Council’s full schedule of hearings.
WEEK 3 - ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY OFFICE, FRANKLIN PARK OPERATOR PARKS & RECREATION, AND LEADERLESS OFFICE OF POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
MONDAY, MAY 6 AT 10 AM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Consumer Affairs & Licensing; Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment; and Tourism Revolving Fund
Where to find in the budget book:
Consumer Affairs & Licensing is from page 396 to 405
Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment is from page 416 to 424
Operating Budget Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Consumer Affairs & Licensing - $1,996,324 in FY25 vs $1,959,730 in FY24
Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment - $1,867,925 in FY25 vs $1,799,103 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
The letter highlights $3M to “streamline City approvals and improve the licensing and permitting process.”
What BPI is watching for:
The Boston Globe published a column last week that accused Boston of conducting a “forever war on fun.” If you accept author Carine Hajjar’s hypothesis, than these two offices are where that war is prosecuted from. Both major examples in the column - patio dining in the North End and the “The Wake Up the Night Grant” program - are run by these two offices.
BPI will be watching to see if any Boston City Councilors are as concerned about improving Boston’s entertainment offering as Hajjar.
MONDAY, MAY 6 AT 2 PM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Economic Opportunity & Inclusion; Supplier Diversity; Labor Compliance & Worker Protections
Where to find in the budget book:
Economic Opportunity & Inclusion is from page 406 to 415
Supplier Diversity is from page 426 to 431
Labor Compliance & Worker Protections is from page 436 to 441
Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Economic Opportunity & Inclusion - $7,052,536 in FY25 vs $6,592,766 in FY24
Supplier Diversity - $2,329,271 in FY25 vs $2,905,378 in FY24
Labor Compliance & Worker Protections - $1,953,219 in FY25 vs $2,870,232 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
None of theses offices are mentioned.
What BPI is watching for:
Mayor Wu has made increasing diversity among Boston’s municipal contractors a major priority, and this budget hearing is a chance to hear how that effort is proceeding.
The focus on contractor diversity became a major issue in 2019, when a report on contractor diversity sparked a series of actions by outside groups, including a letter from activist groups “criticizing the administration’s procurement efforts as inadequate.” Here was where contractor diversity stood back in November 2019, when then-Mayor Marty Walsh started taking action to address the issue:
The latest figures from City Hall show 5.3 percent of the city’s $669 million in discretionary contracts went to minority- and women-owned businesses in the fiscal year that ended on June 30. That’s up from 4.5 percent in the previous year.
Back in 2019 groups criticizing Mayor Walsh pointed to much higher participation rates for diverse contractors in other cities: New York (19 percent), Chicago (29 percent), Philadelphia (31 percent), Memphis (18 percent), and Charlotte (19 percent). This hearing will give Councilors and the public a better sense of the Wu administration’s plan to achieve those numbers.
TUESDAY, MAY 7 AT 10 AM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Boston Centers for Youth & Families; Boston Public Library; and BCYF Revolving Fund
Where to find in the budget book:
Boston Centers for Youth & Families is from page 783 to 804
Boston Public Library is from page 811 to 832
Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Boston Centers for Youth & Families - $30,572,526 in FY25 vs $30,187,110 in FY24
Boston Public Library - $49,048,314 in FY25 vs $48,379,139 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
There are three big highlights from the Mayor’s letter that are for agencies in this hearing:
$31M for the Fields Corner Library
$65M for the Grove Hall Community Center
$54.5M in polls repairs, split between BCYF and BPS
What BPI is watching for:
Last summer 10 of Boston’s 18 public pools were closed for repair and renovation, producing a months long back and forth between the Wu administration, City Councilors, and the community about who knew what when. Outside of Boston Public Schools, Boston Centers for Youth & Family is the City’s other major pool operator, so expect a lot of discussion of pools and other youth-focused activities at this hearing.
TUESDAY, MAY 7 AT 2 PM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Planning Department
Where to find in the budget book:
Planning Department is from pages 1141 to 1164
Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Planning Department - $32,678,075 in FY25 to $451,126 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
This office does not appear to be mentioned in the Mayor’s letter.
What BPI is watching for:
While reform of the Article 80 process and the City’s zoning remain on the drawing board, the creation of the Planning Department is the most consequential action that Mayor Michelle Wu has taken since she was sworn in as Mayor in November 2021. While BPI has pointed out that Wu administration’s reforms to the Boston Planning & Development Agency and Boston’s larger planning and development processes and bureaucracy is not as wide-ranging as what was laid out in then-Councilor Wu’s 2019 ‘Abolish the BPDA’ white paper, they are nonetheless quite wide ranging.
The Planning Department was created with a City ordinance earlier this year, a process that BPI monitored extensively and that was widely covered in the press. This budget hearing will be the first opportunity to hear about how the implemention of that ordinance is proceeding. There are three major pieces that BPI will be looking for, plus one smaller piece:
The timeline and further details of the move of BPDA staff from the quasi-public agency to the City of Boston.
The status of the Memorandum of Understanding between the BPDA board and the City of Boston, which will transfer funds from the quasi-public agency to the City in order to pay for the planning deparment’s expenses.
The status of the Planning Advisory Council, which was created by executive order back in January 2023 and to date has produced no public-facing work, but which was mentioned last week as coordinating the City’s capital spending.
The smaller piece that BPI will be watching for is any discussion of the Landmarks Commission. District 8 City Councilor Sharon Durkan, who chairs the committee that handles the LC’s business and is a close ally of Mayor Wu, talked about moving the LC under the Planning Department before the Dorchester Reporter broke news of chaos on the LC broke later that day:
The LC has been in the news since a letter from the Commissioners charging Wu administration officials were interfering in their legal duties and the subsequent firing of the LC’s Executive Director came to light two weeks ago. Moving the LC under the new Planning Department was not mentioned in the letter that Commissioners sent to City officials, but a proposed move like that must be viewed within the context of this fierce but mostly opaque fight between the LC’s Commissioners and Mayor Wu’s administration.
THURSDAY, MAY 9 AT 10 AM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Department of Innovation & Technology; PEG Access Fund
Where to find in the budget book:
Department of Innovation & Technology is from pages 917 to 940
Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Department of Innovation & Technology - $53,106,430 in FY25 to $44,537,888 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
This office is not mentioned in the Mayor’s letter.
What BPI is watching for:
BPI is not watching for anything.
THURSDAY, MAY 9 AT 2 PM IN THE IANNELLA CHAMBER
Office of Police Accountability & Transparency
Where to find in the budget book:
Office of Police Accountability & Transparency is from pages 314 to 320
Numbers in FY25 and FY24:
Office of Police Accountability & Transparency - $1,474,595 in FY25 to $1,452,986 in FY24
From the Mayor’s Letter:
This office is not mentioned in the Mayor’s letter.
What BPI is watching for:
OPAT was created in the aftermath of the George Floyd protest in 2020, part of a push by then-City Councilor and current Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell. At the time GBH quoted Campbell:
“Passing this ordinance would be a win for the city, a major step towards eliminating racial disparities in policing while creating greater transparency, accountability and justice in our system,” said councilor Andrea Campbell.
OPAT’s first Executive Director was Mattapan attorney Stephanie Everett* who served for almost two years before being appointed Suffolk County Register of Probate in April 2023. This morning after more than a year of the position being vacant and with the budget hearing in just a few days a new executive director was announced: Evandro Carvalho.
In this hearing, the status of the Executive Director and the length of the job search is secondary to a more fundamental question: does Boston need OPAT? OPAT lacked an Executive Director while the Wu administration successfully negotiated “significant reforms in discipline, paid details, medical leave, union release, officer retention, and educational incentives” with the Boston Police Patrolmen Association. In addition, the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission is doing significant, work in the same vein, to what appears to be much more effect.
At this hearing BPI will be watching for Councilors to start examining whether this office as currently constructed has a future.
* BPI’S Executive Director Gregory Maynard worked as a political consultant for Everett in her 2016 Register of Deeds campaign and in her 2020 State Representative campaign
Is there something you are watching for in a budget hearing either this week or in the coming weeks? Email BPI at info@bostonpolicyinstitute.org to let us know!
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