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Council committee summarizes FY26 budget hearings; digital equity, climate resilience and inspections drew scrutiny
Summary
The committee on Ways and Means reported a series of FY26 budget hearings that highlighted persistent digital access gaps, investments in coastal resilience, concerns about inspectional services capacity, and oversight questions for police complaint handling.
The Boston City Council's Committee on Ways and Means on Wednesday summarized a series of hearings and working sessions tied to proposed FY26 budget dockets, telling colleagues the committee had held 29 hearings and more than 62 hours of meetings to review departmental requests and city priorities.
Councilor Amanda Rao (reporting to the full council) said the hearings examined a broad array of departments and funds, with recurring themes of equity, staffing shortfalls and the need for better cross‑department coordination.
At a May 1 hearing on the Department of Innovation and Technology, DoIT staff presented findings from Boston's first comprehensive digital equity assessment. The administration reported that 24% of respondents cited unaffordable home Internet, 25% reported slow speeds and 47% said they wanted to improve…
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