A small crowd gathered outside the Iannella Chamber before the City Council’s regular meeting on Wednesday, for Councilor Julia Mejia’s No Taxation Without Representation rally. Although the councilor urged her colleagues to challenge the FY27 budget, she said she has not, and will not, participate in the “smoke and mirrors” amendment process.

Mayor Michelle Wu proposed a $4.9 billion budget for the next fiscal year. In a letter to the council, the mayor described this as a “difficult moment” for the city, stating that the budget required “tough choices, including targeted reduction.” These reductions will be felt in millions cut from affordable housing, food access, and programs supporting veterans and other marginalized identities, despite a $7.5 million increase in funding for police.

This comes following a $50 million budget deficit driven by spending on snow removal, police overtime, and public employee health insurance.

“As the City Council enters its budget deliberations, we will have the opportunity to file amendments, but we shouldn’t be in a position where we’re trying to restore funding that should not have been cut in the first place,” Mejia said.

She alleged that the amendment process was strictly transactional and that the real decisions had been made long before the budget reached the council.

“Years of budget hearings have demonstrated that they are only good for presentations and questions that go unanswered in hearings or get pushed into [Requests for Information] that may or may not receive a response,” the councilor said in a statement. “We are tired of it, and so is the community. We are ready to move past business as usual and get to the work of restoring cuts to essential supports for residents through the amendment process.”

Mejia said she would instead be participating in community working sessions to bring forward the voices of residents to apply pressure on the administration. Her office will be implementing a co-governance and participatory democracy model centering communities in policy making to advocate for issues including the budget, BPS decision making, development projects, and government accessibility.

“Community engagement feels more like a formality these days. Like a box to check off, rather than something that shapes the outcomes. Even when there is clear and shared input from residents, we continue to see hesitation from this administration to act on it,” Mejia said.

Mejia was joined by fellow councilors Miniard Culpepper and Erin Murphy, and allies from the Franklin Park Defenders, Bostonians for an Elected School Committee, and Northeastern University Class of 2027 in supporting a resolution upholding the democratic principle of “No Taxation Without Representation.” Their message was simple: “Nothing about us, without us, is for us.”

“I know what it’s like to be outside of these walls, fighting to be heard. Now that I’m on the inside, I have a responsibility of making sure that I tear down these walls and create a space for people to not only be heard, but to be affirmed that what we hear, we do something about.”