Boston City Council passes Michelle Wu's $4.8 billion budget, with $1.1 million in amendments

Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald on Jun 4, 2025

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BOSTON — In a marked change in tone from the infighting that occurred last year, the Boston City Council unanimously approved the mayor’s proposed $4.8 billion city budget for fiscal year 2026 with $1.1 million worth of Council amendments.

Council Vice President Brian Worrell, who shepherded the Council’s budget process as chair of the Ways and Means Committee, spoke to the importance of putting together a budget that reflects the needs of residents, amid the federal government’s threats to cut funding for Boston and other sanctuary cities.

“Despite the uncertainty, we delivered a budget that doesn’t just maintain the status quo — it pushes us forward,” Worrell said at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. “This budget is stronger when it reflects the people we serve.”

The Council’s amended budget was approved via a 13-0 vote after less than an hour of discussion, and unlike past years that led to mayoral vetoes, includes no public safety cuts to the police and fire departments. The reallocation amendments totaled roughly $1.1 million and represented .02% of the total budget.

Mayor Michelle Wu, who has vetoed the majority of the Council’s amendments in the past few years, said she plans to “review” the changes to her budget proposal.

Worrell said that while the amended budget includes investments that reflect the Council’s values and commitment to collaborating with community advocates, it does not solve long-term challenges like the city’s housing crisis on its own.

To make room for increased investments, like the $1.6 million for city housing vouchers that were referenced by Worrell and several other councilors, cuts were made to line items either within the same department or in a different department.

Additional funding for housing vouchers, for example, came from decreasing the budgets for public works, transportation, parks and recreation, and property management, and human resources, among other departments — with the cuts largely pertaining to equipment, supplies and contractual services.

“I think we all demonstrated fiscal responsibility,” Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata said. “We were data-informed and we let the numbers speak for themselves.”

Other priority areas included youth jobs, veterans services, pest control, traffic enforcement, firefighter cancer screening, access to counsel, adult English language classes, mental health services, emergency preparedness, immigrant protections amid the federal crackdown, and a merchandise licensing pilot program that councilors said will bring more revenue into the city.

“We’re doing so much with very little resources right now,” Councilor Henry Santana said. “This budget reflects that. No budget is perfect. I feel like this budget reflects the needs of the city, the moment that we’re in right now.”

While the discussion was largely drama-free, in stark contrast to a final Council budget debate that lasted nine hours last June, several councilors mentioned that the approved budget was a compromise measure.

Councilor Ed Flynn, for example, said he would have liked to see greater investment in firefighter cancer screening, due to their lower life expectancy.

“I think I’ve done my fair share of compromising over the last several months, more than I would like to, but that’s the process,” Flynn said.

For a second straight year, the Council chose to make a number of cuts to the execution of courts fund, which is budgeted at $5 million annually and is used to settle city lawsuits and court cases.

Last year, the Council’s depletion of that fund, as part of overrides to the mayor’s vetoes, was flagged as potentially illegal by the mayor’s office. Asked if she had the same concerns this year, Wu demurred.

“Whenever there is a line item that is about a legal obligation, it ends up being a question about how much is in reserves or might be available from other parts of the budget,” Wu said. “So we’ll have to look at it. I haven’t seen exactly what they passed so we will respond shortly.”

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