Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia convened a virtual Nov. 17 hearing to examine first-quarter FY26 operating expenditures and questioned administration officials about underspending in some departments, overspending in public safety and the city’s tools to respond to funding shocks.

“We have a a $4,840,000,000 annual operating budget for FY26, and the expenses total as of 09/30 … 28%,” Budget Director Jim Williamson told the committee, noting that several large, planned payments — including a roughly $468,000,000 payment to the Boston Retirement System — occur early in the fiscal year.

That context, officials said, partly explains why some departments have spent below a simple 25% benchmark by the quarter’s end: Councilor Mejia cited the Human Rights Commission (~2%), the Office of Fair Housing and Equity (~5%), Arts & Culture (~12%) and supplier‑diversity programs (~10%). Williamson said much of that underspending reflects salary savings from vacancies and the seasonality or timing of program activity.

At the same time, Mejia pressed officials on items that have already exceeded the 25% mark. “Police overtime … were already about 44% spent by September 30. Fire department is over 50%,” she said. Williamson replied that overtime is a recurring management pressure driven by events, protests, elections, training obligations and staffing interruptions and that the administration is working on staffing and occupational‑safety measures to reduce injuries and backfill costs.

Mejia also raised the ‘execution of courts’ account, noting roughly $12,000,000 in Q1 spending without a clearly designated line item visible in the materials she reviewed. Williamson said a significant Q1 settlement drove early spending in that account and that projections are difficult; he deferred specific legal questions to the Law Department.

On resiliency for vulnerable services, Mejia asked whether the city could set up emergency support for providers such as Fenway Health if federal funding were curtailed. “There’s nothing specifically on the city side for anything like that,” CFO Ashley Grafenberger said, but added that the city maintains general reserves “to deal with kind of these types of shocks in the economy.”

Councilors and officials also touched on capital spending, revenue projections and debt management. Grafenberger said the materials presented at this hearing focused on operating expenditures and the administration was not prepared to provide detailed capital‑project spending (including White Stadium) at this session; she agreed to supply capital detail at a future deep dive. On revenue, the administration said Q1 receipts are not yet a reliable signal for the full year but that revenue is generally on target and that staff can provide quarterly revenue reports going forward. On debt, Grafenberger said the city did not pursue a refunding this spring because market conditions were unfavorable; it did sell standard general‑obligation bonds and retains capacity to act later.

Mejia asked about a one‑year extension of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association agreement and an estimated 1‑year cost of $6.7 million. Grafenberger said the adopted budget includes a collective‑bargaining reserve so the fiscal impact is planned for and is shifted into department accounts through supplemental appropriations when contracts are approved.

The administration described the internal process for budget transfers: departments initiate transfers in the financial system, analysts review the rationale and the source of funds, and the budget office evaluates whether requests are discretionary or necessary operational shifts before approving them.

Several questions revealed data or presentation discrepancies the administration said it would investigate — for example, Councilor Mejia asked why Parks & Recreation permanent‑employee amounts appeared to decrease; Williamson said his preliminary check of the online budget document showed the line increasing and he agreed to follow up to reconcile the difference.

Mejia closed the hearing by thanking staff and the administration and said the committee will return for follow‑ups, including a planned deeper review of revenue and capital spending in a future session. The docket (1446) was adjourned.