Hundreds of thousands of dollars the Boston City Council set aside to give raises to municipal police officers “will not be used for that purpose,” Mayor Michelle Wu told the council on Monday, dismissing their change to her budget proposal as a “clear cut violation of the City Charter and state law.”
In the one-page letter, Wu flatly rejected a council move to redirect about $585,000 from the city’s property management department to a pay bump for officers who provide security services at buildings such as City Hall. Wu told councilors that their effort would violate the city charter because “it inserts the council into collective bargaining negotiations,” which is prohibited.
“Both the City and the Union agree that [Municipal Police Patrolmen’s Association] salaries should be adjusted, but the parties have yet to reach an agreement on the size of the increase,” Wu wrote. “There is no other interpretation of this override vote than as a directive from the City Council to the Administration to adopt the MPPA’s specific salary increase demands in bargaining ... the council cannot use the budget-making process to dictate collective bargaining.”
Wu’s letter was yet another blow to the embattled council, which has recently made more headlines for personal scandals than policy changes. And it was the latest demonstration of the body’s impotence, even on matters over which it has some legal authority.
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