Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 10 a.m. (Boston time), Boston City Hall, 1 City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201
Hearing on Docket #1030
The Ways & Means Committee held a hearing on Docket 1030, a mayoral order (sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu) appropriating $47,120,292 in free cash to cover the FY26 snow and winter management deficit for the fiscal period ending June 30, 2026. Budget Director Jim Williamson and CFO Ashley Gräfton Burger explained that the winter brought 61.6 inches of snow, 20 distinct winter weather events, reduced snow storage capacity, and emergency snow-melter rentals, and that the combined supplementals plus the annual $40 million OPEB appropriation represent roughly a $150 million draw on free cash (about 24% of the $601 million certified balance). Councilors questioned whether snow removal is truly a non-recurring cost, how the 2015 experience compares, the impact on the city's bond rating and reserves, and whether the city should create a snow stabilization fund or buy rather than rent snow melters. Related discussions covered health insurance overspending, the retiree COLA request, and the timing of required approval (by June 30 to avoid ending the year in deficit). One member of the public testified about health insurance forecast accuracy. No vote was taken in the portion of the hearing captured.
0:40 and.
1:24 I'm.
7:50 Not.
14:35 I'm I'm.
15:25 Like.
16:09 No no.
18:32 Right on time.
18:33 Um.
18:33 Okay.
18:34 Good morning.
18:36 For the record my name is ben
18:37 weber.
18:38 I'm the district six city
18:39 councilor and the chair of the
18:40 ways and means committee.
18:44 Today is MAY 27th, 2026 and the
18:47 exact time is 10:19 A.M. This
18:48 hearing is being recorded.
18:49 It's also being live streamed
18:52 to boston.Gov/city council dash
18:54 tv and broadcast on xfinity
18:56 channel eight, rcn channel 82
18:58 and files channel 964.
19:00 Written testimony MAY be sent
19:03 to the committee email at ccw
19:05 and in boston.Gov and will be
19:06 made part of the record and
19:07 available to all councilors.
19:09 Public testimony will be taken
19:10 at the end of this hearing.
19:14 Uh um individuals will be
19:15 called on the order in which
19:16 they've signed up on a two
19:16 minutes to testify.
19:21 Um, if you are interested in
19:22 testifying in person, please
19:23 add your name to the sign up
19:24 sheet near the entrance.
19:26 Uh, of the chamber.
19:27 If you're looking to testify
19:28 virtually, please email our
19:30 central staff liaison karishma
19:34 chohan at car is h.
19:38 Mccutcheon at boston gov for
19:39 the link in your name will be
19:40 added to the list.
19:42 This morning's hearing is on
19:45 docket number 1030 message in
19:47 order authorizing the city
19:48 of boston to appropriate the
19:54 amount of $47,120,292 for
19:56 purposes of funding the snow
19:58 and winter management
20:00 appropriation to meet operating
20:01 expenses, uh, of the fiscal
20:03 year uh fiscal period
20:06 commencing JUNE JULY 1st, 2025
20:09 and ending JUNE 30th 2026.
20:10 This matter is sponsored by
20:11 mayor michelle wu and referred
20:15 to the committee on MAY 20th
20:15 2026.
20:16 Today I'm joined by my
20:19 colleagues and our rival
20:20 councilor culpeper
20:20 councilor fitzgerald.
20:22 Uh I have received a letter
20:24 of absence from
20:24 councilor louijeune.
20:27 Uh, we're joined by our uh
20:29 today or this morning by our
20:30 chief financial officer ashley
20:32 grafton burger and our budget
20:33 director jim williamson.
20:34 Um.
20:36 we're just going to, uh, go
20:38 past opening statements, waive
20:40 those and if you have a
20:40 presentation we'll hear from
20:41 you and then we'll get to
20:42 questions.
20:56 Um.
21:00 no.
21:02 Okay.
21:06 Well thank you chair weber and
21:07 other members of the boston
21:08 city council.
21:09 Uh, my name is jim williamson.
21:11 I'm the budget director here at
21:12 the city of boston and I'm
21:13 joined by the chief financial
21:15 officer ashley graham burger.
21:17 Uh, we appreciate this
21:19 opportunity to discuss the fbi
21:21 supplemental budget and its
21:22 impact on the city's finances.
21:24 Uh, we understand the
21:25 administration values the
21:26 shared responsibility of the
21:28 city council to safeguard, uh,
21:30 boston's limited public
21:32 resources and, uh, serve that
21:34 serve our city's residents
21:36 better view the, uh the
21:38 appropriation order before you
21:39 explain the details of its
21:41 financial transaction and
21:44 request, uh, your
21:45 recommendation for approval at
21:46 the next city council meeting.
21:51 So, um, what we, uh we put both
21:51 dockets.
21:52 We know there's a separate
21:53 hearing uh, this afternoon with
21:57 ,um, on docket 0131 but just
21:59 for, uh, completeness uh, in
22:00 terms of the overall change to
22:05 the budget, um, uh, docket
22:08 101030 is for $47.1 million and
22:10 that's for snow and winter
22:10 management.
22:12 Um, and later today we will
22:15 come in to speak to docket
22:18 1031a $22.8 million
22:19 supplemental first public
22:21 schools for uh health insurance
22:22 and uh, utilities.
22:27 Um, uh just a little uh uh um
22:29 so the funding source that uh,
22:31 supports this appropriation uh
22:33 ,these appropriations are free
22:33 cash.
22:36 Um, and just for for context, I
22:37 think it's been uh,
22:38 communicated a few times about
22:40 the the level of free cash that
22:41 the city has on hand.
22:44 Uh, we started um, at 526 by
22:46 budgeting 4 million uh, $40
22:48 million for opeb which has been
22:50 uh our standard practice for
22:51 for several years now.
22:53 Uh, and with these two
22:55 supplements, the total $70
22:57 million that will be uh, $110
23:00 million draw on on the free
23:00 cash balance.
23:03 uh, and we must remember that
23:05 addition to that is $40 million
23:07 carried forward into the fall
23:08 27 budget.
23:11 So there'll be a draw of about
23:12 $150 million through the two
23:15 fiscal years, which is about
23:17 24% of um the free cash balance
23:18 of 601.
23:24 So um so uh so we we uh we
23:26 understand that this is sort
23:27 of reserved for extraordinary
23:30 events and I think uh, the way
23:31 uh we'll get into the snow and
23:33 winter management and and speak
23:35 to how it is sort of uh
23:37 different from our uh, recent
23:39 years experience with snow.
23:42 Um, so the snow budget
23:44 supplemental covers, uh, the
23:45 snow and ice contractors for
23:47 public works, the boston public
23:48 schools parks and recreation
23:50 and the mayor's office
23:50 of housing.
23:51 So.
23:55 uh, the city provides snow
23:56 and ice removal for all the
23:59 roads open to public travel,
24:01 municipal parking lots, public
24:02 stairways, footbridges,
24:05 bridges, paths, bridge, um
24:09 pathways and for uh as a as a
24:11 landlord uh you know so the
24:13 owner of city owned lots they
24:14 clear the sidewalks in front
24:17 of those lots uh, expense items
24:19 include things like contractors
24:21 uh, both emergency response
24:23 and, uh, this year, given the
24:25 accumulation of snow, uh,
24:27 several post-storm removals,
24:30 um, their staff overtime, uh,
24:31 public works staff who are
24:33 driving trucks, managing
24:36 contractors responding to
24:38 increased um roadway treatment
24:42 which includes salt and other
24:43 approaches to sort of treating
24:45 the roadway to to um, have a
24:47 better response, uh, for snow
24:49 removal and ice melting uh,
24:51 this year given the
24:52 accumulation of snow well, we
24:55 rented snow melt ers uh uh that
24:57 was a sort of a, uh an unusual
24:59 sort of one time expense.
25:02 Uh uh, the where we store our
25:04 snow that were removed from
25:05 sort of major thoroughfares.
25:07 Business districts are things
25:08 what we call snow farms.
25:11 Uh, and it's often sort of city
25:13 owned um, assets but others uh
25:16 ,property the city has access
25:19 to um so for example parking
25:21 lots of golf golf course, um
25:23 municipal and golf courses,
25:24 things of that nature.
25:27 Uh and given that um over time
25:29 some of the more uh other
25:31 property has has no longer in
25:33 the city's um control uh it's
25:35 the number of snow farms has
25:38 reduced so snow melt was became
25:41 more important to make room in
25:43 these storage areas to to store
25:46 it uh in there's also sort
25:48 of all the periphery costs
25:51 of um of of providing a snow
25:51 response.
25:54 Um so this our central fleet is
25:56 repairing equipment, you know,
25:58 uh, retrofitting it for snow
25:59 response.
26:02 Uh, and also within uh the snow
26:04 preparation we charge the um
26:05 the debt service for like
26:07 replacement of snow equipment
26:10 so large, you know, um, sprout
26:13 and snow spreaders and plow
26:15 blades in the like, uh, and
26:17 then even some of the more uh,
26:19 sort of lower level cost things
26:20 like weather monitoring costs
26:21 and things of that nature.
26:28 So um, I guess snow in uh
26:29 winter management highlights
26:33 and I know uh um chief gove
26:35 came down here and did a
26:37 presentation uh, in early MARCH
26:39 um right on the heels of those
26:42 those snow storms but um it's
26:44 we are not alone in in dealing
26:48 with these sort of uh uh,
26:50 variable snow uh, occurrences
26:50 in the city.
26:55 So uh and it's not uncommon for
26:56 communities, uh, around the
26:59 state to seek free cash
27:01 supplementals to uh, close uh,
27:04 a budgetary uh, cap, um, for
27:05 snow removal.
27:09 So it's it's um well, there's a
27:10 reporting deadline for the
27:11 current fiscal year, isn't it,
27:13 until SEPTEMBER 15th.
27:15 So communities around the state
27:17 are going to their their um,
27:19 select boards in town meetings
27:21 to get these supplementals to
27:22 close the books.
27:24 They don't actually officially
27:26 have to report their snow and
27:27 ice removal costs until the
27:30 state uh but that's how um,
27:32 sensitive and how uh impactful
27:34 it is to municipal budgets for
27:36 the state separates that one
27:38 cost item is uh is something
27:39 that they want to pay attention
27:41 to it have all these state laws
27:42 ,you know, mass general law
27:45 chapter 4431 so it speaks to
27:48 the emergency nature of of snow
27:50 removal and the fact that you
27:51 can overspend your
27:54 appropriation uh, this past
27:58 winter, uh saw 61.6in of snow
27:59 marking the coldest and snowy
28:01 spring in 11 years.
28:03 So we sort of fell into a
28:04 little bit of complacency and
28:07 not being uh, sort of having
28:10 this uh thing on average it was
28:12 uh 2.1% below normal reversing
28:15 a ten year trend where uh
28:15 temperatures in the winter
28:17 around here have been 3% three
28:18 degrees higher.
28:22 uh, the uh the streets team and
28:25 other teams uh schools and
28:27 parks and minimum wage manage
28:28 20 different distinct winter
28:30 weather events this winter
28:32 requiring almost continuous ice
28:34 response during that extended
28:34 cold period.
28:38 Um and just to highlight there
28:40 was sort of two uh major winter
28:43 storms that bookend between a
28:45 period of very cold weather.
28:48 So uh, the JANUARY 25th 226
28:51 storm uh was 23.2in of snow in
28:53 a 36 hour window and I think uh
28:55 ,those were notes uh, taken
28:57 from chief groves and
28:59 presentation before this body,
29:01 you know, talking about how the
29:04 city's responding to that storm
29:06 and in the FEBRUARY storm as
29:07 well I believe it was in early
29:09 MARCH, uh, the second storm
29:11 which was not regionally
29:13 dispersed evenly.
29:16 Um, I think uh uh I think the
29:17 southeastern massachusetts and
29:19 even into rhode island they
29:21 were more adversely impacted.
29:22 It was a named storm winter
29:25 storm hernando uh civic but it
29:28 in boston it wasn't as as much
29:29 accumulation as the previous
29:31 storm so it was 17.1in during
29:33 the blizzard of 2026 or winter
29:35 storm orlando.
29:37 Uh and ultimately once fema did
29:40 their sort of calculation
29:41 of eligibility for fema,
29:43 suffolk county was excluded
29:45 because we didn't hit our sort
29:47 of you know, probably not doing
29:49 the justice on the the formula
29:51 they use but it's not a record
29:54 in their mind to to unlock um,
29:55 federal resources.
30:02 And so um even before uh the uh
30:05 the winter that we uh, endured
30:07 we were we're working towards
30:09 um uh, closing what we
30:11 anticipated of of revenue that
30:15 was not meeting sort of um uh,
30:17 you know, the estimated amounts
30:19 uh, you know, so spending that
30:21 we're well, well acquainted
30:24 with uh, like uh, public safety
30:26 overtime and execution of court
30:28 spending and then uh, as as we
30:30 just talked about things that
30:33 are are not as um consistent
30:35 but snow removal.
30:38 Um, so we went through a
30:39 process of doing a more
30:41 controlled hiring process.
30:43 Um, so and one of the one
30:46 of the things is um, uh
30:48 actually, you know, uh, you
30:49 know, working with the mayor's
30:52 team communicated to um, the
30:54 council on the status of um the
30:57 fy 26 budget um towards the end
30:58 of MARCH and we had already
31:00 sort of uh, try to capture
31:02 within that projection to not
31:04 overstate um, uh the position
31:08 we were in uh uh some of the
31:09 savings that were receiving and
31:11 initially it was sort of uh uh
31:13 sort of a controlled hiring
31:15 approach with filling vacancies
31:18 with some other very
31:19 non-discretionary, very
31:22 discretionary expenses like uh,
31:24 food travel, you know, uh,
31:26 slide which is sort of like
31:29 city um, nonunion required
31:30 clothing and things like that
31:32 but not the biggest cost
31:34 element but sort of a way to
31:35 sort of manage costs without
31:37 having uh a lot of impact on
31:38 departmental operations.
31:42 Um, but uh, continued hiring in
31:44 essential roles where we where
31:45 we were authorizing spending
31:48 someplace places like uh e911
31:53 call takers, um, uh lifeguards
31:55 uh those sort of titles
31:56 continue to fill and actually
31:58 we've been successful in
32:00 filling those titles even uh uh
32:02 sort of the much loved uh or
32:04 hated I guess parking
32:05 enforcement officers loved in
32:08 form in terms of regulating the
32:08 the curb.
32:10 Uh, but you know, no one likes
32:11 to get a parking ticket when
32:14 when you, uh, violated the the
32:15 regulations.
32:18 But, um, so those are things
32:20 that are continue to hire uh
32:22 and then non-personal uh,
32:25 spending so we um we still
32:26 maintain that those sort
32:29 of more um discretionary
32:31 spending controls but also um,
32:33 you know, given where we were
32:35 and we needed to close that and
32:36 had the benefit of knowing
32:38 where the direction we were
32:41 heading for snow um, we put on
32:42 a more stringent and I think
32:44 that communication with this
32:44 historically has been a
32:47 transition memo, um, for
32:47 departments getting ready to
32:49 close out the fiscal year and
32:50 getting ready for the next
32:52 fiscal year but also included
32:55 provisions for uh controlling
32:57 our non personnel spending with
32:58 sort of up a way to sort
33:00 of being very deliberative on
33:02 how long personnel spending uh
33:06 so that that's driven again um
33:08 uh you know uh some modest
33:11 savings but many of the savings
33:13 that we achieved uh, have been
33:16 uh offset by counterbalancing
33:17 sort of growth and expenditure
33:18 items.
33:21 So we had more flaherty on the
33:23 security needs for world cup
33:23 soccer.
33:26 Um, new uh had more information
33:28 on the number of events, the
33:30 duration of events, um, you
33:32 know, other community based
33:33 events related to it.
33:35 so those have been baked in
33:37 with uh, with now the better
33:39 understanding of grant awards.
33:42 Um, and then you know, uh, uh,
33:43 increasing energy costs.
33:46 We did see we sort of uh, put
33:48 in a more more accurate a more
33:50 um reflective of what we're
33:52 seeing in real time, uh, on
33:54 costs related to energy.
33:58 So but, um, we do feel
34:00 confident that with these
34:02 updated projections and some
34:05 adjustments we we can with this
34:08 uh um, uh, $47.1 million for