City council approves $31M budget cut from Boston PD

By Gayla Cawley
Boston Herald

BOSTON — The Boston City Council narrowly passed a $4.2 billion operating budget that cuts roughly $31 million from the police department.

The spending plan was approved Wednesday via a 7-5 vote, and will now be submitted to Mayor Michelle Wu, who can choose to veto or accept the amendments the Council made to her initial budget.

The Council approved roughly $52.9 million in amendments, but the two that drew the most opposition were those that would reduce the Boston Police Department and Veterans office budgets by $30.91 million and $900,000, respectively.

“We’ve got the best police department in the country,” said City Councilor Michael Flaherty. “And we’ve got the best community policing model in the country. We are the envy of cities our size and bigger across this country and we’re all seeing it daily as to what’s happening to cities that are defunding the police.

“This cut of $30 million would be decimating to our Boston Police Department.”

Flaherty also spoke against plans to cut and redirect police funds to other city services last week, in a chaotic session which saw the Council first approve, then later reject the operating budget after two councilors changed their votes at the last minute.

In that instance, the cuts were at roughly $42 million, as part of amendments that, at the time, totaled about $75 million. The cuts submitted to the mayor include a $22 million reduction from the Boston Police overtime budget.

Flaherty joined the three other conservative voices on the City Council, Frank Baker, Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy, in voting against the budget on Wednesday.

“Cutting $900,000 from the veterans department is unconscionable,” Flynn said. “Tomorrow the headline potentially could be: This body has turned our backs on veterans and their families.”

Councilor Gabriela Coletta, who had changed her vote from “yes” to “no” last week, also voted in opposition, citing her discomfort with the “significant personnel cuts” to city departments “that provide deeply needed services to our residents, especially as our city grows.”

Flynn added that the amended operating budget included “deep and painful cuts to city departments that provide critical services to our residents,” including the Boston Police, Fire, Transportation, Inspectional Services, Public Works, and Veterans Services departments.

“We now await an acceptance, rejection, or amendments back from the mayor,” Coletta said. “I look forward to the continued conversations ahead of the final vote at the end of June.”

Brian Worrell, who changed his ‘yes’ vote to a ‘present’ last week, opted to keep his ‘yes’ vote this week, allowing the body to attain the seven favorable votes needed to pass the budget onto the mayor.

Worrell said that while it was his belief that some of the cuts in the Council’s amended budget could have “unintended negative impacts,” he was choosing to vote on the proposal as a whole.

“I believe now’s the time to ask ourselves if this proposal on the whole moves us towards a more equitable and responsive city,” he said. “And I believe that we are in the middle of a process to do so. And I plan to vote ‘yes’ to move us forward in that progress.”

Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who chaired the budget hearings that led up to Wednesday’s vote, spoke of efforts to put forward amendments that tackle systemic racism, and invest in communities of color. Certain preventive measures are going to help people survive, she said.

“When I stand here, and I talk about systemic racism and oppression, and I talk about how our communities are not invested, and you want to fill up our communities with more police because that’s going to fight crime,” Fernandes Anderson said. “Well, you made us violent. You created a jungle. You made us into an animal and we are surviving the very system that this city built.”

Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association President Larry Calderone blasted the $31 million cut saying councilors “are too busy grandstanding with police biases.” He also said they are missing the point: “Their constituents deserve to live in safe neighborhoods.”

Some of the larger budget amendments included an $8 million allocation to the mayor’s office of housing; $9 million to youth, employment and opportunity; $4 million to the office of economic opportunity and inclusion; $2 million to arts and culture; $2 million to parks and recreation; $2 million to women’s advancement; $2.2 million to the office of human services; and $10 million to participatory budgeting.

The City Council also passed a $1.45 billion budget for the Boston Public Schools via an 11-1 vote. Murphy voted in opposition.

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