And if city council votes no on the budget again at the end of June, under state law the budget reverts to a month-to-month version of last year’s budget - a “1/12th budget” as Boston policy wonks call it - until a new budget gets negotiated. They can ask for such changes, and they can reduce budget item amounts, but the mayor doesn’t have to concede or take any of their advice. Under this strong-mayor system, council members don’t have the formal power to propose and vote on budget amendments that would shape how the city spends its $3.7 billion budget - for example shifting them from one department to another or stipulating guidelines on how dollars get spent within a department. That perfunctory “no” vote traditionally kicks off a month-long process of closed-door budget negotiations between the mayor’s office and individual city council members. For decades, the Boston municipal budget process has started with budget hearings leading up to the mayor proposing a budget in June, which city council traditionally votes against as a formality.

This Partnership at MIT Is Changing the Gameīoston voters will have a chance to do that next week, as they go to the polls not only to elect a new mayor, but also to vote yes or no on a ballot measure that would overhaul the city’s annual budget negotiation process by giving city council more formal control over city purse strings.īoston city council member Lydia Edwards has felt hamstrung since her first budget vote in 2018.

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