Boston Council Challenges Wu Administration Over Double-Digit Cuts to Veterans, Senior Services

BOSTON — May 14, 2026 — Boston Ways and Means Committee rejects rationale for double-digit cuts to veterans, senior, and reentry services in FY27 budget hearing. Committee Chair Ben Weber convened a roughly three-and-a-half-hour hearing Thursday on Mayor Michelle Wu's proposed FY27 budgets for the Age Strong Commission, the Office of Veteran Services, and the Office of Returning Citizens, in which councillors repeatedly confronted Chief of Human Services Jose Masso over why departments that submitted 2 percent budget reductions — as requested — received final cuts of 12 percent, 14 percent, and 36 percent, respectively. The proposed budget would eliminate $1.37 million from Age Strong's community grants, $724,000 from veterans services, and $900,000 from reentry programming, while leaving personnel lines intact. Councillor Ed Flynn, a 24-year Navy veteran, said "if we cut the veterans budget by 25 cents I would be equally outraged," and said he would rather resign than support a budget that hurts veterans. Veterans Commissioner Robert Santiago confirmed the Chapter 115 financial assistance line for indigent veterans is unaffected, but that the Bridge the Gap mini-grants program, which has distributed more than $300,000 to veteran-serving organizations, is fully eliminated.