Boston City Council Scrutinizes FY24 Budgets for Law, Treasury, and Auditing Departments

BOSTON — April 25, 2023 — Boston City Council Ways and Means Committee reviews FY24 budgets for the Law, Treasury, and Auditing departments. Corporation Counsel Adam Cederbaum told the committee his 68-attorney department handles roughly 200 active litigation cases in-house, with only five matters currently placed with outside counsel, and requested two additional attorney positions focused on procurement and policy litigation. Cederbaum committed to delivering a full active litigation case list within seven days after a request from Councilor Michael Flaherty, and pledged a five-year trend of employment and MCAD filings against the city in response to Councilor Julia M. Mejia. Treasury officials reported a 99.1 percent property tax collection rate on a $2.8 billion real estate commitment and disclosed that the city's Community Preservation Act program has awarded $157 million to 293 projects since 2018. City Auditor Maureen Joyce noted Standard and Poor's recently called the city's 185-page Comprehensive Financial Report "one of the best that they ever see" during a bond rating presentation.