City Councilor Michelle Wu says she plans to reject a revised version of Mayor Marty Walsh’s budget during a Boston City Council vote Wednesday, in an effort to continue negotiations over funding for police.
“Earlier in the year, in February, we would have a different budget in front of us today,” Wu said in an interview with WGBH News. “But because the city was further along in the process, the tweaks that were meant to be a response were just small tweaks. I don't feel comfortable saying it's too late at this point because we haven't passed a budget yet. We have a responsibility to meet the moment.”
Walsh responded to calls from activists to divert funds from the police by pledging to redistribute $12 million from the $60 million overtime budget into community-led programs. His new proposal would reallocate that money on the Boston Public Health Commission, youth programming, mental health services, economic development initiatives for minorities and women and youth homelessness programs.
Wu said Walsh’s proposal doesn’t go far enough to meet the calls from his constituents.
“It's not a real change. Contractually, the city is obligated to pay for every hour of overtime work, no matter what the budget says is the line item for overtime pay,” Wu said. “It will be very likely that we will still send that same amount — or more— because the city has no choice but to pay that through the contracts and the legal obligations.”
A majority of the council signed a letter last week urging Walsh to cut 10 percent of the city’s $414 million police budget and spend that money on community-led programs.
Wu, along with Council President Kim Janey and Councilors Ricardo Arroyo, Liz Breadon, Kenzie Bok, Andrea Campbell, Lydia Edwards and Julia Mejia all signed the letter.
The specific percentage isn’t the point, Wu said. “It's about more than just picking a number. We need to have plans for what that would mean,” she added. “Funding questions, particularly around the police budget, are really questions about what the role of police should be in our city and our society. Many situations that we're asking our officers to respond to are not suited for someone with a law enforcement background.”
A spokesperson for Walsh said in a statement that the mayor is working to avoid “significant financial and operational setbacks” that could occur if the budget isn’t finalized soon. “As the City faces a $65 million revenue loss from COVID-19, the Mayor is focused on being fiscally responsible,” the statement reads, “while leading the charge toward a more just and equitable society by listening to the calls of residents and advocates, and making smart and strategic investments that will get this important work off the ground at a time when it is needed most.”
Wu said she’s hoping negotiations can continue following the vote and include more perspectives from activists. “This is the way it works,” Wu said. “It often takes tremendous outside pressure to get to the point where the system and the status quo are finally able to change the very structures that are holding up progress.”
