In a 10-to-3 vote, the Boston City Council delayed voting on Mayor Michelle Wu’s $4.9 billion 2027 fiscal-year budget proposal until next week. This follows two months of frustration among councilors, organizing groups, and community members over major cuts to city services, including the arts, youth jobs, and affordable housing.

“The discussion in our working sessions is very incomplete,” said Councilor At-Large Erin Murphy.

The Council has spent the past two months debating whether to amend the Mayor’s budget or reject it outright, with a motion to do the latter failing 6-to-6 last month. In the past week, tensions have escalated amid Council infighting and activist-led protests disrupting working sessions. On Tuesday, Ways and Means Chair Benjamin Webber adjourned a meeting early, saying it was “going in circles,” leaving several Council colleagues outraged.

Select budget items passed, including unanimous approval to pull $70 million from City reserves to cover deficits in this year’s budget and the $4.4 billion five-year capital plan, which funds projects throughout the city.

The $1.7 billion Boston Public Schools budget, an item that would slash 400 student-facing paraprofessional and teaching roles, passed 8-to-5. Though BPS will receive $88 million more than in previous years, school officials have said declining enrollment and rising health insurance costs have forced the district to make cuts.

The decision came under scrutiny from the Boston Teachers Union who had attended the session and had advocated for the Council to reject the budget in protest of the cuts.

“In eliminating several hundred positions, the proposed budget sets a dangerous precedent,” the BTU said in a statement. “In difficult fiscal times, it is our most vulnerable students who will carry the weight of our struggles, and we need to stand with them.

District 1 Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, who, alongside her newborn, returned from maternity leave to weigh in on the budget process, argued that rejecting the budget would not solve the district’s financial challenges. 

“Rejection doesn’t change the very real circumstances that we have lost thousands of students. It doesn’t solve for the long-term budget issues, the structural, systematic issues that we are feeling – Not just in Boston, but statewide,” she said. “Our teachers and parents deserve respect. They also deserve stability and long-term solutions.

Murphy, a former school teacher, said the most vulnerable students will not get the education they deserve without paraprofessionals, adding that these roles are often paid so little that many struggle to make ends meet.

Wu has described the budget as a difficult but necessary cutback meant to continue funding essential city services while grappling with rising costs and falling revenues.

The Council will convene next week, Wednesday, June 10, to vote on the fiscal year 2027 budget. An additional meeting is scheduled for June 17 to review the Mayor’s response.