Boston City Council Budget Amendments Shrink to $24 Million Before Floor Vote

BOSTON — June 13, 2023 — Boston City Council budget amendments fall to roughly $24 million as participatory budgeting fight dominates final working session. Councilor-at-Large Julia M. Mejia, who had initially sought more than $32 million in personal amendments, announced she had reduced her ask to $7 million, with $2.6 million directed toward participatory budgeting drawn primarily from Boston Police Department personnel and overtime surplus accounts she said would leave the department with a projected $24 million unspent balance. Councilor Lara added $2.5 million and Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata added $350,000 toward the $10 million participatory budgeting goal advocated by community groups. Council President Edward M. Flynn opposed any police cuts, telling colleagues, "Not once has someone said to me, hey, Flynn, we need to cut and you need to get more police off the street." Committee Chair Tanya Fernandes-Anderson, presiding over what she called the final working session before a noon floor vote, confirmed no city employees would lose jobs or hours as a result of the amendments, which draw exclusively from projected unspent funds.