Wu signs off on $3.8 million for police detectives' and school workers' contracts

Union contracts are a large share of what Boston spends each year, and each one needs money the City Council has to approve. Two routine notices on today's council agenda close the loop on several of them.

Under a 1979 city ordinance, the city clerk reports back to the council on what the mayor did with the papers it passed. The notices for the Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 meetings (docket 2037 and docket 2038) show that Mayor Michelle Wu approved every listed item on Oct. 21, according to the Sept. 30 notice and the Oct. 7 notice.

Police detectives: $3.3 million

The largest pieces fund two Boston Police contracts, each running July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, according to the notices:

• Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society: $1,951,894 for fiscal 2027 costs (docket 1672), moved from the city's reserve for collective bargaining (docket 1671). The contract includes a 2% raise in July 2025, an update to hazardous duty pay and new language on sick-time buyback at retirement.
• The detectives' superior officers unit: $1,366,093 (docket 1674, with the reserve transfer in docket 1673). It includes the same 2% raise, a hazardous duty pay update and changes on paid details and summer vacation schedules.

The budget sets aside money in that reserve each year for contracts still being negotiated, and these orders move it to the department once a deal is done.

School employees: about $517,000

The Oct. 7 notice covers five Boston Public Schools contracts, each funded by a reserve transfer and a matching supplemental appropriation:

• School police patrolmen: $268,887 (docket 1830): 2% raises in October 2024, 2025 and 2026, plus flat additions of $250, $900 and $800 to annual salaries in January 2025, 2026 and 2027.
• School police superior officers: $111,802 (docket 1832), with the same raise schedule.
• SEIU Local 888, planning and engineering professionals: $85,879 (docket 1834): 2% in September 2026 and $800 in January 2027.
• Plant administrators: $40,365 (docket 1836), on the same terms.
• Storekeepers and stores deliverymen, Local 2814: $10,320 (docket 1838), on the same terms.

Together with the detectives' money, the contract funding totals $3,835,240. The notices also show Wu approved three grants: $103,239.10 from the attorney general for the city's consumer affairs program (docket 1884), $14,272.98 in federal Wagner-Peyser reemployment money (docket 1885) and $4,350 for historic preservation commissioners to attend a national conference (docket 1839).

What our records show

• The votes. The council passed the detectives' funding on Sept. 30. The roll call on the first order was unanimous, 13-0 (watch at 53:09). The school contracts passed Oct. 7 with 11 or 12 yes votes each and no recorded no votes, according to each docket's record.
• The hearing. City Councilor Benjamin Weber, who chairs Ways and Means, told colleagues his committee held a hearing on the detectives' funding on Sept. 28 with the city's budget director and the detectives' union president, after an earlier hearing in May on the agreements themselves (watch at 46:11).
• A side issue: screenings. City Councilor Erin Murphy said the hearing showed that police are raising money themselves for wellness programs and some health screenings, and said the city should fund those in its budget (watch at 50:11). City Councilor Ed Flynn said officers are paying for screenings through the union or fundraising, and that his budget proposal to fund a police wellness program did not pass (watch at 51:15).

What's next

The notices will be placed on file today (meeting page). The detectives' contracts covered a year that has already ended, so new agreements for July 2026 onward would come back to the council for funding when they are settled.