Weekly Transcript Round-up for 05/22/26
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Weekly Transcript Round-up for 05/22/26Council shows deep divides over budget; Lack of City & State World Cup planning prompts Gov v Mayor fight; New reports shows Boston lagging state in ADU production; Council heads to working sessions
On Monday evening BPI’s Executive Director Gregory Maynard was the featured speaker at Annissa Essaibi-George’s #FamilyRoomPolitics series, where he gave a presentation on Boston’s fiscal crisis, including BPI’s office values report, the FY27 budget, and the FY26 budget deficit. Check out the presentation:
Interested in having BPI give a presentation on our work to your group? Message Boston Policy Institute BPI had 20 questions for the City official testifying at this week’s 5 budget hearings - including Police Oversight BPL, BCYF, and Public Health - so keep reading for those answers. This week saw a lot of action inside & outside City Hall:
This was the 2nd to last week of budget hearings: the Council has just 1 more scheduled next week. That doesn’t signal the end of the body’s budget work however, as the body now moves to working sessions, the technically public meetings that are not videotaped or broadcast. If this week’s action at the lone budget working session was any indication, those upcoming meeting will be fierce. That is because Wednesday morning’s working session saw Councilors using much rawer and more energetic versions of the same rhetoric and arguments heard in the afternoon budget debate over the budget, check out BPI’s live-blog of Wednesday morning’s working session:
The discussion at the working session was significantly wider ranging as well, including over how to use the Council’s budget powers, how to run an amendment process, and even over whether to accept the Mayor’s ‘cut grants, not jobs’ approach to the FY27 budget. For a look at a look at the much ext week’s single budget hearing is a big one: most of the Finance Cabinet - Assessing, Auditing, and Treasury - will be before the Council on Tuesday, May 26, at 10 AM. With the $70M supplemental appropriations to close the FY26 deficit, a lot of unanswered questions about healthcare spending, widespread Council opposition to the FY27 budget, growing doubts about the City’s revenue forecasts, and issue like the long-promised Wolf & Company audit of Main Streets, which Auditor Finn promised last August would be published in October, it will be one to watch. Keep reading for all 20 BPI budget questions! QUESTIONS FOR OFFICE OF POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY 1. Why hasn’t cooperating with OPAT been part of the changes City Hall labor relations staff got in the collective bargaining agreements with Boston Police Department unions? This question and the next one were not asked or answered, but the issues of OPAT decisions and actions not being respected by CBAs or Commission Cox was repeatedly brought up. OPAT ED Evandro Carvalho advanced the idea that Cox was not allowed to reverse OPAT decisions, even though that is something that Cox has done repeatedly. That idea saw the most discussion during an exchange with Councilor Culpepper - this is the 1:15:48 mark:
This is now an issue to watch: will Culpepper and the Council write a new ordinance that strengthens OPAT? 2. Why hasn’t Mayor Wu ordered Commissioner Cox to enforce OPAT’s disciplinary decisions? This question was not asked or answered at Monday morning’s hearing, but Cox and OPAT’s relationship was discussed several times. This was the most interesting piece of those exchanges, with Carvalho responding to a question from Weber exchange - starts at the 1:24:18 mark:
3. What steps has OPAT taken since 6 BPD employees refused to comply with the agency’s subpoenas in February? This question was asked by Councilor Breadon - 59:07 mark:
4. Has OPAT been able to hire a new chief of staff since its last one was fired in 2025? This question was not asked or answered 5. Evandro Carvalho, the current executive director of OPAT was the last executive director of the Human Rights Commission, a body which the Wu administration has been winding down for years, and which had its budget zeroed out in the FY27 budget. Can he talk about lessons learned from that experience that he is applying to OPAT? This question was not asked or answered. QUESTIONS FOR BOSTON CENTERS FOR YOUTH & FAMILIES 6. Administration & Policy and Sports & Fitness are both seeing their overall budgets cut, but spending on “personnel services” is increasing in both budgets: about $400k in A&P and $100k in S&F. What is driving that increase? This question was not asked or answered. 7. Based on the current employment contracts with non-union-ized employees and CBAs for unionized employees, how much is that line expected to rise in FY28? This question was not asked or answered. 8. Is there more room to cut “non-personnel services” after this fiscal year? Put another way: if you needed to cut more spending in this budget, would you cut “non-personnel” more, or cut “personnel”? This question was not asked or answered. 9. BCYF’s capital budget last year called for spending $56M in FY26, but this year showed less than 50% of that was spent: a little under $26M. With that in mind, how much of the $60M in spending in FY27 called for in this budget do you expect to see actually spent? Council Breadon asked this question and got an answer from BCYF Commissioner Martha Rivera that sheds more light on the capital planning process - this starts at the 1:43:35 mark:
Whether or not project managers are assigned to specific projects isn’t an issue or question that BPI has seen cited before. QUESTIONS FOR BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 10. BPS’ Library Administration is seeing a huge budget cut, with 40% of its “Personnel Services” budget - more than $1M - being cut. How is this budget cut being accomplished? This was the very last question of the hearing, asked by Chair Weber, and he got a good answer - 1:03:19 mark:
11. Can you explain what kind of categories of spending are being cut since the number of FTE positions is not going down? Answered by Q10. 12. There is $32M budgeted for the “Chinatown Branch Library” project (p. 1016), but nearly all of that money - $29.3M - is in FY28-31. Can BPL talk through how that capital budget intersects with the recently started construction on the apartment building/BPL branch in Chinatown? This question was not asked or answered. 13. On April 30, 2025, the Boston Public Library Professional Staff Association filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge against Boston which charged that the city had engaged in a campaign of “intimidation, interrogation, disparagement and threats of discipline” at the union’s president because she refused to sign “a statement in derogation of member rights” she believed was false. What is the current status of that Unfair Labor Practice Charge? This question was not asked or answered. 14. How would you characterize the current relationship between management and the Boston Public Library Professional Staff Association? This question was not asked or answered, but for a look at how library staff are talking about it, check out this video from a BPL employee 15. The Boston Globe reported about the sorry state of the McKim Building in September 2025, which the 2021 master plan found had an unusable 3rd floor and estimated the cost of renovating at $325M. The budget for the “McKim Master Plan” (p. 1016) in this year’s capital budget is just $50M, and none of that was spent in FY26 or in FY27. BPL President David Leonard asked the question in the Globe article “What is the city really up for?” Can he answer that question at today’s hearing? This question was not asked or answered. Despite the lack of a plan for the McKim building, it was prominently featured in Boston’s pitch for the DNC 2028 this week. QUESTIONS FOR BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSION 16. Why is the request to move the Office of Community Safety to BPHC only being made now for the FY27 budget, when Isaac Yablo appears to have made the move to BPHC last June, which was during FY25? This question was not asked or answered. However, the transition was in the BPHC’s opening presentation at the 3 PM hearing - 10:38 mark:
17. The Coordinated Response Team works closely with the BPHC team: how much of the BPHC budget is spent on line items related to CRT’s work? How many BPHC staff worked with CRT? Councilor Weber asked a question about CRT and the BPHC Commissioner Dr. Bisola Ojikutu’s response does a great job summing up why CRT needs to actually appear before the Council for a stand-alone budget hearing - 1:37:43 mark:
18. Does BPHC track state spending in Boston from human services contracts that do not flow through the BPHC or other City agencies? This question was not asked or answered, however, there was an announcement from Dr. Ojikutu that was along these lines - 17:42 mark:
19. For example, could BPHC tell the Council how much the state spends on Mass & Cass focused services that go directly to other providers, like Pine Street Inn or Boston Healthcare for the Homeless? This question was not asked or answered. 20. In February South End community leaders and elected officials, along with the CRT, announced a new plan and approach to Mass & Cass. In April, Mayor Wu and State House leaders announced $4M in funding in the state’s budget to support that program. Did that plan cause BPHC to change anything in their FY27 budget? Can BPHC walk through those changes? This question was not asked or answered. 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.< |
