Boston City Council Budget Hearing on Participatory Budgeting FY27 - April 23, 2026
Boston City Council Budget Hearing on Participatory Budgeting FY27 - April 23, 2026
On April 23, 2026, the Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means, chaired by Councillor Ben Weber, held a hearing to review the FY27 budget for the Office of Participatory Budgeting (OPB). The hearing began at 2:11 PM. Director Renato Costello presented the proposed operating budget of $1,891,561, an 11.4% decrease from FY26, attributed to a reclassification of a staff role and a reduction in special appropriations. The OPB oversees a democratic process where residents decide how to spend a portion of the city budget, with a special revenue fund of $2.2 million for the upcoming cycle. The hearing included a presentation on the latest cycle, which collected over 1,200 ideas and received over 4,800 votes, funding 8 projects totaling $2.2 million. Council members expressed differing views on the program's value and equity.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public testified in person or virtually. The chair noted that public testimony was available after the first round of questions, but no one signed up.
Discussion Items
- Presentation by Director Renato Costello: Costello outlined the OPB's staff (three full-time positions), the participatory budgeting process timeline (idea collection in July, proposal development in fall, voting in January-February), and the FY27 budget decrease. He highlighted results from the latest cycle: 1,200 ideas, 31 co-sponsored events, 200 participants in proposal forums, 4,800 votes, and 8 winning projects (e.g., Immigrant Legal Defense Fund, Fresh Food Access). He noted that youth (ages 11-19) made up 22% of early-phase participants and 8% of voters. The office plans to hire a community partnerships and project coordinator.
- Councillor Flynn (opposition): Flynn questioned the budget cut, asked about outreach to veterans and Chinatown, and expressed opposition to the participatory budgeting program, particularly allowing 11-year-olds to vote on taxpayer money. He argued for fiscal discipline during challenging times and noted that the budget decrease would have been $200,000 without the reclassification.
- Councillor Culpepper (support for expansion): Culpepper strongly supported the program and advocated for increasing the budget from $2 million to $10 million. He proposed a district-based model where each council district and at-large members would have one project, to ensure equitable representation. He raised concerns that Roxbury and Dorchester were underrepresented in idea collection, proposal development, and voting, suggesting a correlation between forum locations and voter turnout. He requested data on where the 19 contracted nonprofits were located.
- Councillor Zapata (support): Zapata praised the office and its work, noting her role in the charter amendment. She asked about youth engagement (8% of votes from ages 11-19), the special revenue fund balance ($2.2 million), and the timeline for transferring funds to departments. She emphasized the value of civic engagement for young people.
- Councillor Braden (support): Braden expressed strong support for the program, highlighting its role in democratizing budget discussions and fostering cross-neighborhood understanding. She asked about criteria for project eligibility (legal, procurement, budget checks), how residents can track project progress (via website updates), and definitions of success (participation, completion rates). She noted that 91% of forum participants said the process helped them understand the budget.
- Chair Weber (supportive): Weber asked about voter turnout trends (increase of 500 votes from the first cycle), the impact of last year's budget amendment (which moved $200,000 from contractual services to project funding, but required an internal transfer of $100,000 back), and the new coordinator position. He also discussed the ordinance's intent to create a feedback loop for budget priorities, noting that this aspect has not yet been fully realized.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or decisions were taken. The hearing was part of the ongoing budget review process.
- Councillor Culpepper's proposal for a district-based allocation model was discussed but not formally adopted; the chair suggested it could be considered for future cycles.
- The OPB will continue with the FY27 budget as proposed, including the reclassification of the chief of staff role to a community partnerships coordinator position (expected to be filled by late summer/early fall 2026).
- The office will provide Councillor Culpepper with data on the distribution of contracted nonprofits and the locations of idea collection events and proposal forums.
- The chair noted that the office will work to increase youth engagement, possibly through partnerships with Boston Public Schools.
- The hearing was adjourned at approximately 3:00 PM, with the next budget hearing scheduled for Monday, April 27, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. My name is Ben Weber. I am the Boston City Councilor for District Six and the Chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means. Today is April 23rd, 2026, and the exact time is two eleven in the afternoon. This hearing is being recorded, is also being live streamed at Boston.gov/slash city dash council dash TV and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82, and FIOS Channel 964. The council's budget review process will encompass a series of public hearings that began last week and will run through June. We strongly encourage residents to take a moment to engage in this process by giving testimony for the record. You can do so uh in several ways. First, you can attend one of our hearings and give public testimony. We will take public testimony uh at the end of the first round of questions from my council colleagues. Uh, we're also going to take public testimony to listening sessions, um, which will be at night at at uh the Boston City at City Hall, uh, the first being on Tuesday, April 28th at 6 p.m., and the second being on Thursday, May 26th at 6 p.m. Those are listening sessions. You can see the full hearing schedule on our website at Boston.gov slash council dash budget. Uh in lieu of appearing in person, you can also testify by Zoom. Um you which you can let's see, if you want to testify virtually, uh you can email the um council budget review website. Uh or you can sorry, you can fill out an online form at the council budget review website, or you can email the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov, or by emailing uh uh Kerish Machon, that's K-A-R I S H M A C H O U H A N at Boston.gov. Uh if you're here to testify in person uh at a hearing, which uh anyone uh is welcome to do should sign up. There's a there's a sheet at the entrance if you want your name called for public testimony. Um if you're if you signed up and your name is called, you have two minutes to testify, please just identify yourself uh and uh tell us what your affiliation is uh if you're representing your organization or just uh where you live in the city, and uh you'll have two minutes to uh make your voice heard. Um instead of if you don't want to you don't have time to come here or testify virtually, you can also email written testimony to the committee at ccc.wm at Boston dot gov. Uh lastly, you could you can also submit a two-minute video of your testimony through the form on our website. For more information on the Boston City Council budget process and how to testify, please visit the count city council's budget website at Boston.gov slash city, Boston.gov slash council dash budget. Uh in-person testimony will be taken uh following the first round of questions from my colleagues, and folks will have two minutes to testify again. If you want to testify virtually at this hearing, you can email uh our director of legislative budget analysis, Krishnmach at K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A.CHO UHAN at Boston.gov for the Zoom link and your name will be added to the list. This afternoon's hearing is on docket numbers zero seven three three to zero seven four zero, an overview of the FY27 budget for the Office of Particip Participatory Budgeting. This is one in a series of hearings that we'll be having on the FY27 budget. These matters were sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu and referred to the committee on April 8th, 2026. Today I'm joined by my colleagues in order of arrival, Councillor Flynn, Councillor Culpepper, and Councillor Caleta Zapata. Let's see. So at these budget hearings, we do wave opening statements. We're just gonna go to the panel. This will be easier than some panels because there's only one panelist. So to introduce today's panelists is Renato Costello, who's the director of the Office of Participatory Budgeting. So just give me a second. There's no one online. Okay. And nobody here wants to testify in person. I'm just checking, you can decide later. Okay, so uh Renato, the floor is yours, and then we'll go to questions for my colleagues. Thank you, Chair Weber. Um I will uh do a brief presentation and then I'm happy to answer any questions about the office or the process that we're running. This works. So the Office of Participatory Budgeting consists of three full-time staff, me as the director, Blanca Texera, Senior Finance and Operations Manager, and a community partnerships and project coordinator that we're currently accepting candidates for review. Um participatory budgeting is a democratic process where community members decide how to spend a part of a public budget. PB advances the city's goals around civic engagement and community collaboration by addressing barriers for public participation and decision making in local government, elevating resident-informed project ideas that reflect their priorities and lived experiences, and bringing communities and city government together. The mission of the Office of Participatory Budgeting is to provide an official point of entry for Boston residents to contribute to the city's budget process through partnerships with community organizations, collaboration with city departments, and guidance from our external oversight board. The office hosts yearly participatory budgeting cycles to allow for continuous engagement. We offer opportunities for the public to propose community-centered project ideas to address local priorities, engage resident priorities to inform the city's budget process. The ideas that residents propose have to meet certain criteria. Projects are limited to a one-time expense and cannot create new permanent positions.
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