FY27 BUDGET SEASON: Previews of 4/27 hearings on Housing & Information Technology's $107M budgets
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FY27 BUDGET SEASON: Previews of 4/27 hearings on Housing & Information Technology's $107M budgetsThis week will see 5 budget hearings & a listening session about heavy hitting offices like Housing, Neighborhood Services, and Economic Dev; Today's preview is about the first one - Housing
This week budget hearings really heat up, with 3 of the most important offices - Housing, Neighborhood Services, and Economic Development - all coming in for hearings. This week there are 5 budget hearings:
There is also a public testimony session on Tuesday at 6 PM - check out the public notice. BPI is previewing just the Monday hearings in this email: a preview for Neighborhood Services will come out tomorrow, and for Economic Development on Thursday. Today the attention will be on the afternoon hearing, where the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH) will be laying out what a $5M cut to the Operating Budget, a $49M cut to External Funds, and a $74M cut to the Capital Budget will mean to City Hall’s efforts to battle the housing crisis. These cuts to the MOH are separate from threats to cut federal Section 8 vouchers and from recently revealed cuts to the state’s housing voucher program. The cuts to MOH have featured in public advocacy already - here is one example from the Better Budget Alliance:
In this FY27 budget hearing preview, BPI will include:
DEPARTMENT OF INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY - MONDAY, APRIL 27, 10 AM, IANNELLA CHAMBER There is 1 office and 1 fund:
The PEG Access Fund is unique: it is the cable access fee that funds the video-taping of public meetings and the City’s public access channel: the Boston Neighborhood Network. With the rise of cord-cutting, this is a declining source of funding: there is an on-going effort to collect the fee from streamers to keep this community resource funded. WHERE DO I FIND IT IN THE FY27 BUDGET BOOK? DOIT Operating Budget & External Funds is on p. 723-740 DOIT Capital Budget is on p. 1022-1027 PEG Access Fund is called the “21st Century Access Fund” and is on p. 725 and 739. FY27 vs FY26 BY THE NUMBERS In the Budget Book’s introduction to the budget, here is how DOIT’s budget is described - p. 60:
Operating Budget for DOIT: $57,554,614 in FY27 vs $58,081,166 in FY26, a ($526,552) or 1% decrease. External Funds for DOIT: $5,302,977 in FY27 vs $9,002,062 in FY26, a ($3,699,085) or 41% decrease. The External Funds decrease comes from 3 places: a $600k+ cut in spending from the 21st Century Access Fund; a $2M+ cut in spending from the MBI Digital Equity Partnership; and a $600k+ cut in spending from the Smart Grant. Capital Budget for DOIT: $50,303,966 in FY27-FY31 vs $45,013,310 in FY26-FY30, a 5,290,656 or 12% increase.
PEG Access Fund - called “21st Century Access Fund” - $2,991,038 in FY27 vs $3,600,000 in FY26.
FROM THE MAYOR’S LETTER The office is not mentioned in the Mayor’s letter. WHAT BPI IS WATCHING FOR Last year DOIT was featured in the Mayor’s letter: how did efforts to “build out a new 311 constituent relationship management technology and permitting and licensing systems” go? MAYOR’S OFFICE OF HOUSING - MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2 PM, IANNELLA CHAMBER There is just 1 office today: the Mayor’s Office of Housing. WHERE DO I FIND IT IN THE FY27 BUDGET BOOK? MoH Operating Budget is on p. 704-722. MoH Capital Budget is on p. 999-109. FY27 vs FY26 BY THE NUMBERS In the Budget Book’s introduction, this is how the MoH’s budget is described - p. 59:
Operating Budget for MoH is $49,221,597 in FY27 vs $54,468,982, a ($5,247,385) or 10.6% decrease. There are 3 offices in MoH:
External Budget for MoH is $100,965,123 in FY27 vs $150,386,927 in FY26, a ($49,421,804) or 32.8% decrease. The big losses were from:
Capital Budget for MoH is $52,209,870 in FY27-FY31 vs $126,899,667 in FY26-FY30, ($74,689,797) or 58.8% decrease. FROM THE MAYOR’S LETTER There is a whole section - a header and 4 paragraphs - about the Mayor’s Office on Housing - p. 6 & 7:
WHAT BPI IS WATCHING FOR What is happening to the “Affordable Commercial Assistance Fund”? Can you describe what is being cut to achieve a $4.1M decrease in “56200 Total Special Appropriations” in the MoH’s Operating Budget? There is a $49.4M cut to “Contracted Services” in MoH’s External Funds? Why is the FY27 line item for “CBGB” $15.7M, but the anticipated amount is $16.9M in the descriptions of the funds on p. 719? According to the budget book (p. 908) “the first new building in the redevelopment of Mary Ellen McCormack in South Boston is under construction” but there is no capital spending budgeted for “Mary Ellen McCormack Redevelopment” (p. 1001) listed for FY25, FY26, or FY27. What is the capital spending plan for the “Mary Ellen McCormack Redevelopment”? According to the MoH’s FY26 budget presentation lists $12,350,000 for “City of Boston Voucher Program + Faircloth ( thru BHA)”: how much is budgeted in FY27? Can you talk through the $74,689,797 or 58.8% decrease in the FY27-31 Capital Budget vs the FY26-30 Capital Budget? Boston Policy Institute, Inc is working to improve the public conversation - help us by following BPI on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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