Boston City Council Approves $2B Budget, Cuts Some Jobs

The Boston City Council approved its $2.3 billion budget Wednesday night — just hours before the new fiscal year began Thursday.

Councilors universally acknowledged this year's budget was the toughest in decades, but only two of 11 voted against it.

"I'd like to say this is the best budget I've seen in those 27 years, but I can't. This budget places an unfair burden on our schools, our community centers and our libraries, even with the concessions that have been made," said 27-year council veteran Charles Yancey, speaking from the floor.

City Council President Michael Ross said the outcome could have been much worse.

"The fact that Boston is even still doing as well as it is doing is somewhat miraculous," Ross said. "It's a major city and if you look at other major cities — the other top 20 major cities — many of them, most of them are seeing far worse realities than we're seeing."

This year's city operating and school budgets cut the ranks of custodians and librarians — though they managed to eliminate fewer jobs than expected.

The $2.3 billion budget uses more the $45 million of the city's rainy day funds.