GREEN SHEETS: Preview of 5/20/26 City Council Meeting
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GREEN SHEETS: Preview of 5/20/26 City Council MeetingWu needs Council approval for $70M to balance FY26; Amid mayoral pushback, Council budget amendment process subject of multiple dockets
This week’s Council agenda has a lot of action, with Councilors battling over how to handle the FY27 budget and raising serious questions about what happened in FY26, plus a strange new battle over Summer St between the Wu and Healey administrations. Before getting into this week’s dockets and page numbers, the big news is that Boston’s FY26 budget deficit is officially not going to resolved with mid-year budget cuts and above-forecast revenue alone. Instead, in this week’s agenda packet Mayor Wu submitted 2 supplemental appropriation requests - #1031 for $22.8M from Boston Public School, and #1030 for $47.1M from City Hall - that the Council now needs to pass in order to end FY26 with a balanced budget. It is hard to overstate the level of fiscal mismanagement this deficit represents. For a precedent the Wu administration is pointing to Mayor Walsh’s use of $40M to cover a budget gap in FY21 amid the COVID pandemic. The differences of FY21 and FY26 are obvious: Boston is not currently being wracked by a global pandemic that killed millions and halted daily life for months. On the contrary, while Boston is facing serious long-term budget issues thanks to historically high office and lab vacancy and a slow down in real estate development, the wider economic picture is fine. Massachusetts economy is growing, with GDP in growing 1.2% and the state ending 2025 with year over year GDP growth of 2.4%. The $70M worth of supplemental appropriations that Mayor Wu is requesting is only the fraction of $160M - or 3% of the FY26 budget - that Boston has reported overspending. It appears that the other $90M in reported overspending has been resolved through a combination of mid-year budget cuts and above-forecast revenue, though the Mayor’s press briefing on Monday and letters to the Council don’t address that issue. That $160M figure is based on BPI’s review of the City’s various deficit reports: the December 2025 announcement of a BPS deficit, the January 2026 update that BPS deficit was higher than reported, and the March 2026 announcement that City Hall also faced a deficit. The actual number is likely higher than $160M because City officials have said non-BPS healthcare spending was also over-budget, but have not provided specific figures.
In this preview there will be the docket number, along with the page numbers and a short description of the docket. You can follow along in the agenda packet: First up is “COMMUNICATIONS FROM HER HONOR, THE MAYOR,” which are items being sent to the Council by the Mayor that will see follow-up hearings before being voted on by the Council. Docket #1030 (p. 8–10) is for Council approval of a $47.1M supplemental appropriation from free cash to settle City Hall’s FY26 deficit and end the fiscal year with a balanced budget. While the docket is officially for the “Snow & Winter Management appropriation”, the choice of which part of the deficit to assign the supplemental appropriation to is a political one. The FY26 police overtime budget was overspent by a very similar amount - $48.7M - but that line item is a much thornier public policy issue. Docket #1031 (p. 11–12) is for Council approval of a $22.8M supplemental appropriation from free cash to settle Boston Public School’s FY26 deficit and end the fiscal year with a balanced budget. This docket is for $18M deficit in health insurance and a $4.8M deficit in utility spending. BPS and City Hall share a health insurance plan, so the overspending on BPS health insurance suggests the same thing happened in City Hall. The Mayor’s letter mentions a “spike in health insurance costs for City employees” but does not provide any additional information. Docket #1032 (p. 13–14) is a request for Council approval of a $2.5M grant - the YouthWorks Grant - from the MA Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, which will be administered by the Office of Workforce Development and fund “a Summer and School Year jobs program that will provide leadership development, skills training, and career exploration for low-income at-risk youth ages 14-25 years old.” Docket #1033 (p. 15–16) is a request for Council approval of a $178k grant - the RAY Fellowship - the Barr Foundation, which will be administered by the Environment department and funds “a two-year, paid fellowship that provides recent college graduates from historically underrepresented communities with the professional experience, mentorship, and leadership development needed to launch careers in the environmental sector.” Docket #1034 (p. 17–18) is a request for Council approval of a $100k grant - the Sports and Entertainment Events Fund Grant - from the MA Executive Office of Economic Development, which will be administered by the Office of Tourism and funds the City’s 6 neighborhood watch parties tied to sporting events, featuring “a live match broadcast, family and youth-oriented programming, and opportunities for local small businesses to participate as food vendors.” Docket #1035 (p. 19–22) is a request for Council approval of a $24k grant - the FY24 Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement grant - from the U.S. Department of Justice, then passed through the Massachusetts State Police / Crime Laboratory, which will be administered by the Police Department and funds “training and continuing education for forensic examiners, criminalists and laboratory personnel.” Docket #1036 (p. 23–36) is a request for Council approval of $428.67 from Boston Pride for the People, representing the cost of tabling at the 2026 Boston Pride for the People Pride Festival for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQIA2S+ Advancement. The donation enables the office to “promote City programs and events, distribute resources, and directly engage with residents during Pride.” Docket #1037 - #1040 (p. 23–30) is a request for Council approval of 4 Mayoral appointees to various boards that all fall under the City’s Office of Historic Preservation:
Docket #1041 has no page numbers: while it is on the agenda, and while you can see the response in the docket’s own website on the Council agenda tracking website, it is not in the agenda packet. The docket is a response to a 17F request from Councilor Coletta Zapata for information about BPS student-athlete school transfer policies that was approved by the Council as Docket #0698 back on April 1, 2026. This 17F was explicitly prompted by the issues faced by Charlestown High Senior Amir Mohammed, and reviewing the response, this looks like it both sheds light and raises new questions about his case - read more about his case from the Boston Herald. Next up is “REPORTS OF PUBLIC OFFICERS AND OTHERS,” which are items the Council is being informed about, but is not able to vote on. Docket #1042 (p. 31) is a notice from Mayor Wu that she appointed Erika Chen as a Member of the Commemoration Commission, effective immediately, upon recommendation of the President and CEO of Embrace Boston. Docket #1043 (p. 32) is a notice from Mayor Wu that she appointed Katherine Davis-Wheeler as a Member of the Commemoration Commission, effective immediately, upon recommendation of the Executive Director of the Boston Preservation Alliance. Docket #1044 (p. 33) is a notice from Mayor Wu that she appointed Kay Schlozman as a Member of the Commemoration Commission, effective immediately. Docket #1045 (p. 34) is notice from the City Clerk that Mayor Wu acted upon papers from the City Council at its May 6, 2026 meeting. Docket #1046 (p. 37–96) is the “Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance Regulations” that notes it was approved 8 months ago by the Boston Air Pollution Control Commission on 9/17/25. Sending these regulations to the Council is part of the requirements of the BERDO. Docket #1047 (p. 97) is a memo from Timothy J. Smyth, Executive Officer of the Boston Retirement Board, describing how the elections of the 3rd and 4th members of the Boston Retirement Board will work, including who are eligible candidates and a timeline of the election. Docket #1048 (p. 98-99) is a long statement from Councilor Murphy regarding what Murphy described as the “the selective blocking of late file matters” by Councilor Durkan and raising concerns about filing procedures. This statement is just the latest entry in a now months-long fight between the 2 Councilors, which has started attracting attention from the press. Docket #1049 (p. 100-106) is a memo from Councilors Culpepper & Worrell titled “Why We Will Not Board the Blue Hill Avenue Bus Ride-Along — and Why This Community Deserves Rail, Not More Buses” which uses an MBTA event last week as a jumping off point to describe their opposition to the center-running bus lane on Blue Hill Ave. The memo is aimed at framing their opposition to the center-running bus lane as a principled stand meant to highlight “A History of Broken Promises” - which is the title of one of the memo section - and demand that the light rail originally promised be installed instead. Culpepper and Worrell left no doubt about how they feel about the current proposal:
Docket #1050 (p. 107) is a letter from Councilor Flynn regarding the $363k fine imposed by the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) by the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board as a result of the broken elevator in the Ruth Barkley Apartments, a public housing complex in the South End. Docket #1051 (p. 108-) is a memo from Councilor Weber that serves as a response to the letter and memo sent last week by Mayor Wu and Corporation Counsel Mike Firestone about the Council’s role in the budget process. Weber is an important player in this because he is the Council’s Ways & Means Chair. Weber has a proposal for the budget amendment that highlights BPI’s frequent observation that the Council and its staff have only the most rudimentary understanding of the budget:
This line appears to show the Council’s Ways & Means Chair and his staff do not know the salary of each vacant position, most of which are subject to CBAs with specific salary ranges. In other words, this $7M number is not the result of a “very conservatively estimate”, it is made up. This is not the only place Weber makes leaps that show a lack of underlying data: his description of how he determined there was $6M in non-personnel spending and $4M in execution of courts show similar issues. Weber’s memo using suspect budget math to come up with $17M should be compared to Mayor Wu’s request for $70M in supplemental appropriations to close the FY26 deficit. Based on reports from City officials, Boston overspent its FY26 budget by at least $160M, and over the course of the last few months the Wu administration has moved tens of millions of dollars around - a combination of mid-year spending cuts, hiring freezes, and spending above-forecast revenue - without Council approval or much public notice trying to fill that gap. Weber’s memo shows a Council unable to meaningfully engage with the budget process at a time Boston needs answers amid a long-term fiscal crisis and evidence of serious mismanagement. Docket #1052 (p. 111-112) is a letter from Phil Eng, interim MassDOT Secretary, MBAT General Manager & CEO to Nike Gove, Boston’s interim Streets Chief titled “Notice of Intent to Acquire Temporary Rights in a Portion of Summer Street” and lays out how due to security concerns about the enormous crowds at South Station for the World Cup, the state wants to close Summer St in front of South Station. This letter brings to the Council one of the strangest clashes between public entities produced by the World Cup: Boston and the state are facing off over Summer street. Here is Mayor Wu’s new comms director - read more in the Boston Herald:
There are no “REPORTS OF COMMITTEES” because no hearings were held prior to 9 AM the Monday prior to the regular meeting, so next up is “MATTERS RECENTLY HEARD-FOR POSSIBLE ACTION,” which are dockets that had hearing between 9 AM on Monday and the beginning of since the last regular meeting. Dockets #0733 - #0747 are on the agenda because as the the FY27 budget requests from the Mayor, they were technically heard. These dockets are important because they are the ones that would be voted on if the “vote no” Councilors make a move at this meeting. Dockets #0591 & #0696 (p. 113-114) are both hearing orders about overtime and staffing levels at Boston Police Department that had a hearing yesterday morning before the Public Safety Committee - read the transcript. Next up is “MOTIONS, ORDERS AND RESOLUTIONS,” which are legislative actions from City Councilors. There are 14 dockets in this section and 7 are important to watch. Docket #1054 (p. 116-118) is a home rule petition filed by Councilor Flynn titled “An Act Relative to 17F Reform,” which is aimed at strengthening the Council’s ability to obtain information from city departments beyond what a standard public records request allows. Docket #1056 (p. 121) is a hearing order filed by Councilor Worrell and Culpepper for a hearing to examine FY26 snow and winter management costs, and which claims “Boston’s snow removal costs are out of line with other similar years for snow total”. Docket #1058 (p. 124-125) is a hearing order filed by Councilor Worrell to examine FY27 property tax rates. The hearing order is seeking to get more information about how much property taxes are expected to go up to pay for the FY27 budget:
This hearing order requests the Finance Department and Assessing Department, and that points to these issues being brought up - if not addressed - next week at an already scheduled budget hearing with most of the Finance Cabinet - read more about the May 26 hearing. Docket #1059 (p. 132–133) is a 17F request filed by Councilor Murphy requesting information regarding new City positions created since January 15, 2025, including details such as job titles, salaries, departments, and whether positions provide “direct resident-facing services, frontline operations, management, administration, policy, communications, or executive leadership functions.” Docket #1064 (p. 140–141) is a resolution filed by Councilor Murphy calling for the rescission of elected official salary increases and the redirection of savings to essential City services. This resolution has been covered in the press, and could be a good barometer of where the Council is on the FY27 budget. Docket #1066 (p. 143) is a resolution filed by Councilor Flynn in support of a 3% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and increasing the COLA base for retirees in the Boston Retirement System. This is an interesting resolution amid the on-going fiscal crisis in Boston and the debate around it could show where Councilors stand on this important but rarely discussed issue: retired public employees. Docket #1067 (p. 144–145) is a resolution filed by Councilor Durkan urging the Boston City Council to fulfill its fiscal duty by pursuing the budget amendment process, citing concerns about the City’s borrowing costs and capital investment capacity. This resolution, along with memo from Weber, show that the position laid out in the letter and memo sent by the administration last week urging the Council not to reject the budget and instead stick with the amendment process has support on the Council. Exactly how much support will be shown by the vote on this resolution. The remaining sections are “PERSONNEL ORDERS” which is legislative action required to keep Council staff on payroll and “CONSENT AGENDA” which are for recognition from the Council of events like birthdays and anniversaries. 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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