After a monthslong process, the budget for the city’s new fiscal year is in place. While the full, adopted budget remains unavailable on the city’s budget webpage, here are some things to know about the spending plan now guiding Boston for the next 12 months.
It’s pretty historic
This year’s budget is the first put forward by an elected woman mayor, Michelle Wu.
The spending plan was also made with a new, more collaborative process that gives the Boston City Council authority to propose specific amendments after a mayor recommends a budget. The council used that authority, along with the power to override a mayoral budget proposal with a two-thirds vote, to produce the $3.99 billion budget.
Prior to this process, the council could only vote down a budget, or try to urge a mayor to make amendments by running down the budget clock and withholding a formal budget vote up until the end of the fiscal year.
It’s got new line items in the Equity and Inclusion Cabinet
It’s a section of city government that’s been growing since its formation in 2020 under then-Mayor Marty Walsh. He announced the creation of the new office just days after the City Council narrowly approved what would ultimately be his final budget that year.
The Equity and Inclusion Cabinet was inaugurally funded the following year under acting Mayor Kim Janey with seven total line items and a $10.6 million budget.
Under Mayor Wu this year, the cabinet contains ten line items — including the new offices of Black Male Advancement, LGBTQ+ Advancement and Fair Housing and Equity — and a nearly 10% increase in funding.
It reduces police budget by about 1%
While the budgets increased for Boston’s emergency management and fire departments, the Boston Police Department saw a decrease of about $4.7 million, bringing the agency’s total down from $399 million last year to $395 million this year.
The police department remains the largest line item within the city’s nearly $4 billion budget. And, according to an estimate from the city budget team, the overtime spend for the previous fiscal year will likely be in the ballpark of $70 million. That's despite last year's police overtime line item totaling about $44 million.
Other expenses topping the $100 million mark include the fire department ($278 million), the municipal health insurance line item under the People Operations Cabinet ($217 million), and the public works department ($105 million).
