Boston City Council to receive FY2027 budget filing; debate deferred to June 24 meeting

The Boston City Council met remotely and procedurally received the Fiscal Year 2027 budget filing, the council president said, and referred the document to the Committee on Ways and Means rather than taking up debate or a vote at the session.

"The purpose of this meeting is simply to procedurally receive this filing by referring it to committee," the council president said. The chair cited Chapter Two of the Act of 2025 as authorizing remote meetings while preserving public access to deliberations.

Several councilors pressed for clarification about timing and process after learning of changes from the administration earlier the same day. Councilor Mejia asked which changes had been made and whether members would have an opportunity to discuss them before a final vote; the chair replied that deliberation and votes would occur at the regularly scheduled council meeting on June 24, 2026, and in properly noticed committee or working sessions beforehand.

Councilor Flynn raised a separate concern about meeting procedure, asserting, "I do believe that the City Council likely violated Mass Open Meeting Law" during activity in the prior week's recess. The president and staff responded that they would review the claim and reiterated that any additional working sessions would have to be properly noticed.

The Ways and Means chair offered to host a working session early in the week to walk colleagues through the mayor's correspondence and the filing ahead of the June 24 meeting.

The clerk later read docket number 1222, a message from the mayor returning the annual appropriation and tax audit for fiscal year 2027 (docket 0733), and announced that docket 1222 would be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. Formal action, debate and votes on the budget filing were deferred to the next full council meeting.