The Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means, chaired by Councillor Ben Weber (District 6), held a public testimony listening session on the Fiscal Year 2027 budget on April 28, 2026, at 6:27 PM. The session was one of two public testimony sessions dedicated to the FY27 budget (Docket 0733-0740). Speakers addressed proposed cuts to youth employment, legal aid for evicting families, mental health crisis response funding, and public restroom maintenance. Councillors present included Liz Braden (Council President), Ed Flynn, Brian Worrell, and Enrique Pepén (arrived later). Councillors Henry Santana and Julia Mejia submitted letters of absence.
Good evening. My name's Ben Weber. I'm the Boston City Councillor for District Six and the Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means which handles the budget. Tonight it's April twenty-eighth, two thousand twenty six, and the exact time is six twenty-seven in the evening. We're here for a public testimony listening session. This session is being recorded. It's also being live streamed at Boston.gov slash city dash council dash TV and broadcasts on Xfinity Channel Eight, RCN Channel 82, and FIOS Channel Nine Sixty Four. The council's budget review process encompasses a series of public hearings that begin in April and run through June. First, you can attend one of our hearings. We're having uh around 40 hearings. We had a hearing this morning, and usually having hearings twice a day with different departments. The full hearing schedule, we still have several weeks of hearings, so lots of important departments.gov slash council dash budget. So we're going to be encouraging folks who speak different languages to testify at those at that hearing. If you're here, you have an interpreter, uh, you know, uh, we will certainly make time uh to accommodate that so you can get your full statement in. Um you can again, you can show up at our hearings uh you can show up here, you can show up at our hearings and testify in person or virtually via Zoom. Uh, for in-person testimony, you should come to the chamber as many of you have done, and you can um sign up on our uh sign-in sheet, which is over at the entrance. Um if you're here just to watch, you don't have to sign in. Uh but if you want to testify, I will be reading the names off that sheet. If you want to testify virtually via Zoom, you can sign up using our online form and our council budget review website, or by emailing the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov, or by emailing our uh chief budget analyst Chris Machohan at K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A.CHOUHAN at Boston.gov. When you're called to testify, please state your name and affiliation and your residence. Uh and we're going to be setting a two-minute uh time for uh for testimony. When you hear the beep, please uh wrap up uh your your statement. You can also submit uh testimony, and that's sorry, that goes for both people here in person and virtually. It's uh you'll be a clock behind me. You can uh watch to make sure you're on time, and I'll remind you when you and when you'll hear a beep at the end of that. Um you can also submit testimony by submitting written testimony to the committee by emailing it to ccc.wm at Boston.gov. You can also submit a two-minute video of your testimony through the form on our website. For more information on the city council budget process and how to testify. Please visit the council's budget website at Boston.gov slash council dash budget. So in-person testimony will be taken uh here again. You'll have two minutes to testify and and just to restate it if you uh want to testify virtually, email Krishma Chohan at K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A.CHOUHAN at Boston.gov for the Zoom link and your name will be added to the list. Uh tonight's public session is on docket number 0733 to 0740, which is an overview of the fiscal year 2027 budget. This is one of two public testimony sessions dedicated to the FY27 budget. We've already held uh uh listening sessions here pre-budget to uh and we sent a letter to the council uh to the mayor stating you know the areas we want to focus on you know, which uh which you you can review if uh you can just contact my office at Ben.weber at Boston.gov. Um the the these dockets were sponsored by the uh the mayor, Michelle Wu, and we're referred to the committee on April 8th, 2026. Uh we have here with us councillor Flynn, and we have staff members from uh Madam President Braden's office. I know there are issues with traffic and the orange line at least. Uh I don't know, maybe some other lines are having difficulties, but other counselors may be uh coming to this hearing. Um so uh I am going to well I since we have somebody here, Counselor Flynn, would you like uh to make a like a one-minute opening statement? Thank and thank you, Mr. Chair. Um thank you for holding this important listening session. I had the opportunity opportunity to talk to some of the young people that were here just before the start of this, and I didn't let some of the young people know that I'm in a leadership program and I'm going to be leaving this listening session in a few minutes, but I will be watching it on uh video tonight or or tomorrow. But just want to thank the young people for being here for their important contributions they are making. Being engaged in the budget process is a critical part of decision making here at City at the City Council. So I just want to say thank you to the young people for being here for being engaged and advocating for what they believe in. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, thank you. Uh we're gonna be starting uh tonight's session off with a uh a short video uh of statements from the uh pop-up senior center in West Roxbury, the city uh the state funds two days a week for seniors to gather at the Elks Lodge and it's a very popular program, and uh they're one of the the days of their funding is not funded in the budget.