Mayor Wu has kickstarted the budgeting process a month early with a listening tour, giving residents and city councilors more input on where the city spends its money.
The mayor’s office has held four listening sessions, beginning on February 15 with a meeting dedicated to the fifth, sixth and eighth districts.
The final session, on February 25, will give city councilors-at-large a chance to voice their priorities. In a typical year, the budgeting process would begin mid-April when the mayor submits her recommendation to the City Council.
This year’s early start is giving lawmakers and residents plenty of time to hash out the city’s priorities.
The change has been pushed by both city councilors and residents.
A ballot measure approved in November altered the city charter to amend the suggested budget, altering the proportion of funding allocated instead of simply accepting, rejecting or reducing the proposed budget. City Councilor at-large Erin Murphy suggested the measure had also given the budgeting process as a whole a greater public profile.
“It’s certainly brought the budget to the public’s attention more,” she said. “It’s given people an opportunity to realize that this is a process, and the public can have a say in this. It’s important that we have these opportunities, so that all people and all neighborhoods can weigh in.”
Ed Flynn, President of the City Council, indicated in the tour’s inaugural meeting that housing, equity and climate resiliency would be his priorities this year.
“It is critical that we develop a budget that works for everyone and addresses the important issues,” he said. “We need a budget that meets the moment. This is an opportunity for us to listen to residents, to hear from the stakeholders of our city.”
Elliot Laffer, chair of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, weighed in on behalf of school funding and parks. He also suggested that the coming renovations to Charlesgate Park may require assistance from the city, though most of that effort comes from the state level.
“We want to be sure that the heroic efforts of the Boston Public Library are fully funded as they help the homeless,” he said. “We also lose an awful lot of families in the Back Bay when their kids grow old enough to go to school. There are no public elementary schools, but we want to keep these families in the city. We need to give some thought to how we educate kids that are closer to downtown.”
Murphy applauded the tour but said that it would be more effective in the coming years as more residents became aware of it. In these early days, it’s possible for coordinated groups to have an outsized voice at small meetings.
“These first sessions are still a small percentage of the city’s residents,” she said. “It’s the responsibility of us councilors to reach out and find what we’re missing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against organized participation, I totally applaud these coordinated groups. But we want to get as clear an idea as possible of what people need as we move into the budgeting process.”
The sessions have already proven a platform for political groups hoping to see changes to the budget. The first forum saw a wide variety of topics addressed by residents, but the strongest through line was a push to reallocate $120 million from policing toward social services and opportunities for young people.
That’s the same demand expressed by the group Defund BosCops, an organization backed by a variety of youth and social justice groups. Their efforts saw their goal raised to the forefront of the forum by a diversity of voices from all three districts.
Those who have missed the session for their specific district still have a chance to voice their needs at the final at-large session scheduled for February 25.
The budget the mayor’s office crafts from these recommendations will be submitted to the City Council on April 13, followed by hearings throughout May and June. The council will reach a decision in early June. All told the process must be finished by July 1 when the new fiscal year begins.
