Weekly Transcript Round-Up for 6/13/25

No veto from Wu on Council's .19% change to $4.8B budget; New investigation in City Hall scandal announced via letter to Council; Durkan interrupts, shouts down Flynn over BPS questions

ICYMI: The Boston Globe’s Larry Edelman weighed in on Mayor Wu’s response to BPI’s new report quantifying the impact of falling office values on Boston’s budget: the Ongoing Fallout from Boston’s Empty Offices. From the column:

But in disparaging BPI, she [Wu] sidestepped what could be her biggest challenge in a second term: keeping residential taxes in check without the once-dependable growth in commercial real estate levies.

The whole column is worth reading!

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After more than two months spent focused on the FY26 budget, the early end of budget season on Monday morning did not even crack the top three most interesting important things to happen on the Council this week. It was still an important process and unusual outcome, so keep reading for more on how the last budget of Mayor Wu’s first term stacks up against the previous 3.

Here are the other Council issues that elbowed their way past the budget this week:

• New revelations from the Boston Globe on Monday morning about the involvement of Segun Idowu - Mayor Wu’s top press surrogate & economic development chief - in the on-going City Hall aides arrest & firing scandal, and then a new investigation, led by the City’s HR director not an outside attorney, was announced on Wednesday via letter to Council;

• Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and her leadership team’s willingness to aggressively use Council rules to prevent debate on hot button issues were on full display this week - first on Monday afternoon, where Planning Committee Chair Sharon Durkan interrupted Councilor Ed Flynn to order him to stop his line of questions, after Flynn began asking City transportation officials about BPS transportation policies at a pedestrian safety hearing on Monday afternoon - to read the transcript of this exchange, start at the 1:35:20 mark, Durkan is Speaker 0 & Flynn is Speaker 1;

• During the announcement period of Wednesday’s regular meeting - when Councilors typically highlight upcoming events - Council President Louijeune prevented Councilor At Large Erin Murphy from speaking about an upcoming Council hearing about Council resolutions - a major flashpoint between Louijeune & her leadership team on the one hand, and Councilors Murphy & Flynn on the other - this exchange starts at the 2:41:07 mark in the transcript, Murphy is Speaker 4 & Louijeune is Speaker 0;

• On Thursday morning Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson made her long-awaited resignation announcement, telling the public via Instagram post that she would be officially resigning on July 4, 2025.

Boston’s FY26 budget process is now over, so how does this year’s budget stack up? Three things stand out:

1. This budget process ended earlier of any of the 4 budgets passed under Mayor Wu, and much earlier than was possible under the previous budget process in place prior to vote-approved 2021 changes.

2. The budget was passed unanimously for the first time in Mayor Wu’s first term, and no one appeared able to point to another time the budget was passed without opposition. That unanimity likely helped speed up the budget process: if Mayor Wu had issued any vetoes she would have needed to find 5 Councilors willing to switch their vote, a tall order.

3. This is the the 3rd smallest amount of change out of all 4 budgets, with $7.95M in total changes. The $9M number touted by newspapers and Councilors relies on the idea that Mayor Wu is bound to carry out the more than $1M in “recommendations,” which she is not legally required to do. Here is a run down of the other 3 budget passed under Mayor Wu:

   • The FY24 budget in 2023, which saw all $25M in Council changes vetoed by Mayor Wu and successfully sustained except for a $500k change that Mayor Wu ruled was outside the Council’s power to adjust;

   • The FY25 budget in 2024 was the second largest total change, with the Council making about $15.3M in changes, Mayor Wu vetoing $13.3M, and the Council overriding $6.2M. That comes out to $8.2M in total changes.

   • The FY23 budget in 2022 was the largest total change of Mayor Wu’s first term, with the Council making $25.8M in changes, Mayor Wu vetoing $7.9M, and the Council overriding $2.1M worth of those changes. That comes out to about $20M in total changes.

Now that the budget process is over and July 4th is around the corner, campaigning season will likely begin in earnest, which means questionnaires, forums, and lots of opportunities for outside groups to weigh in the many contested races on Boston ballots this fall.

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