City Budget Update: Why Councillors Arroyo, Yoon, Turner & Yancey voted no.

Contacts:
Danielle Williams (Arroyo), (617) 635-3115
Mary Grissom (Yoon), (617) 635-4217
Ken Yarbrough (Yancey), (617) 635-3131
Lorraine Fowlkes (Turner), (617) 635-3510

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6-27-07

Four Councillors Oppose FY08 City Operating Budget (Boston, MA) Today, Boston City Councillors Felix D. Arroyo, Sam Yoon, Charles Yancey and Chuck Turner voted "No" on the proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2008 in the City of Boston.

The Councillors voted "No" because the proposed operating budget only included short-term funding and support for youth opportunity programs and combating the youth violence crisis. The Councillors detailed their top priorities as follows:

1) Summer jobs - The FY08 operating budget included slightly more than $4 million in city operating funding for 2007 summer jobs. With summer already upon us, the Youth Fund infrastructure limits the City's ability to significantly expand the summer jobs program for this year. However, the Councillors asked for a commitment to increase city operating support for summer jobs by $3 million for FY09, bringing the total city commitment next year to $7.3 million. They also asked the City to extend summer job eligibility to 14-year olds for next summer. These requests were rejected by Mayor Menino and his Administration. "Although government cannot do this alone, we feel the city should be a primary guarantor of summer youth employment. We must commit to erasing the gap between the number of jobs available and the number of young people who want and are eligible for a summer job," said Councillor Chuck Turner

2) Year-round/school-year jobs - $400,000 has already been committed by a private foundation this fiscal year for year-round/school-year jobs. This amount of funding will provide for approximately 150 of these jobs this year. The Councillors asked the Administration to commit to providing 350 additional year-round/school-year jobs beginning this September and ending in June 2009. This would have required an increase in the FY08 budget of $920,000 for the Youth Fund. As with the summer job program, the Councillors sought future growth in this program including a commitment of $2.7 million in FY09 to fund 1000 year-round/school-year jobs. These requests were also rejected. "It is essential that we provide school-year and year-round jobs to supplement the summer jobs program if we truly want to reduce violence and provide real opportunities for our City's young people," said Councillor Sam Yoon.

3) Grants to Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) - Mayor Menino recently committed $300,000 of city operating funds to support CBOs for summer anti-violence programming. The Councillors acknowledged the commitment of $1.25 million in state and private funds as well. However, they sought an additional $1.2 million in city operating funds which they felt should be committed this year to support CBOs, given the essential work they are doing in the community to develop young people and to prevent violence. They asked the administration for a commitment of city operating funds, rather than a commitment to continue private fund-raising, in order to ensure predictability of funding, and therefore (as with youth employment) budgetary "institutionalization." The Councillors also asked that an additional $1.5 million in new grants be committed for FY09. This would bring the total commitment to $3 million for FY09 -- $1.5 million for continuation grants and $1.5 million in new grants. "Earlier this year, I proposed a new $5 million grant program for community based-organizations. I continue to believe that a significant level of new financial support for local organizations and their efforts is one of the best ways to provide the youth programming needed to reduce youth violence, drug abuse and suicide," said Councillor Felix D. Arroyo.

4) Street Workers - This Spring, the City Council passed a Resolution calling for hiring up to 300 additional Youth and Street Workers. The proposed FY08 operating budget included an increase of just ten new Street Worker positions, bringing the total citywide to thirty. However, the Councillors remain concerned that the Street Worker program is chronically under-funded and that morale is being impacted by the small number of Street Workers compared to the size of the population in need of their outreach. Almost 10,000 high school drop-outs, among thousands of other at-risk youth, cannot be served by such a small number of Street Workers. Therefore, the Councillors asked for at least an additional 25 Street Workers, at a cost of $1 million to be added to the FY08 budget, bringing the total to 55. They also asked for a commitment of an additional $1 million to hire an additional twenty-five Street Workers in FY09, bringing the total to 70. Finally, the Councillors asked that any additional street workers be assigned to geographical areas in our city that include the highest concentration of high-risk youth. These requests were again rejected and not included in the passed FY08 operating budget. "The effective use of street and youth workers not only prevents violence and encourages productive lifestyles, it would reduce long-term need for increase enforcement and the need for excessive police overtime, which last year cost taxpayers more than $28 million," said Councillor Yancey.

The FY08 City operating budget was approved by a vote of 9-4, with Councillors Arroyo, Yoon, Yancey and Turner voting "No." By announcing their intention to oppose the proposed operating budget, these Councillors sought additional negotiations with the Administration on the Operating Budget and inclusion of funding for these youth opportunity and youth violence reduction programs.