Boston City Council approved the $2.3 billion FY08 operating budget and the $1.5 billion FY08 to FY12 capital budget, including $25 million designated for improvements in the South End, at its June 27 meeting. While the capital budget was approved unanimously, four Boston city councilors, under the banner of Team Unity, voted against the operating budget, saying that it lacked a long-term commitment to funding youth-based programming.

District 7 councilor Chuck Turner, District 4 councilor Charles Yancey, and at-large city councilors Sam Yoon and Felix Arroyo all voted against the budget. Though the accepted budget represented an increase in funding for youth programming over the initial FY08 proposal, they said did not do enough to expand the existing summer jobs programs, provide any commitment from the city to year-round jobs for youth, give enough grants to community-based organizations, or include funds to hire sufficient street workers.

“The summary is that I and my allies on the city council had a strong disagreement with the mayor about the policy and funding for young people,” said Yoon on Monday. “My major disagreement with the mayor, who is very well-intentioned in terms of wanting to help youth … is that this is really short-term thinking.”

Sandy Martin, director of the South End/Lower Roxbury Youth Workers’ Alliance, agreed with Yoon and said she is somewhat disappointed with the passed budget. “I would say that the city made big moves toward [a commitment to youth] this year, but I would say that those moves took a lot more grassroots agitation than I thought it should have.”

“I think it should have been more, but I don’t want to ignore that there was movement,” she continued, adding that another important development was the number of youth and youth advocates who rallied for additional resources.

About the dissension of the four councilors, Martin said it was “wonderful to have that support there.” She also pointed out that city officials “should do some reflection about what it means that the four city councilors of color were the only ones who were willing to take that stand.”

The current operating budget, according to Lisa Signori, the city’s chief financial officer, includes an additional $3.2 million over the previously proposed version, which was rejected by the council on June 13. That $3.2 million includes additional funding for youth resources, around $1.5 million consisting of a $690,000 commitment to create a Youth Development Outreach Network through the Boston Public Health Commission with 10 staff members, an additional $63,000 to hire two more streetworkers, for a total of six more than the FY07 allotment, and $200,000 to the Boston Youth Fund, which distributes funds to existing community organizations that hire youths. Additionally, the operating budget added $500,000 to the Boston Public School’s budget do address the issues of truancy and the dropout rate. (The rest of the $3.2 million, about $1.6 million, went into the city’s collective bargaining reserve, in the event of renegotiating city contracts with unions.)

Youth advocates like Martin say that while that’s promising, the allotted resources are not enough to systematically and holistically address issues likes youth violence and aren’t as much as they asked for or the city needs. The Youth Workers’ Alliance was part of a larger citywide effort to lobby City Hall for more youth resources and, for example, one of the things that they asked for was to bring the total of street workers up to 50. The total for FY08 is 30, even with the six new workers.

“They went barely halfway to what we wanted,” Martin said of the new budget.

District 2 councilor Bill Linehan, who was elected May 15 and sworn in May 29, just in time for this year’s round of budget hearings, in an emailed statement, called the approved budget “practical and responsible,” and called the additional resources for youth and police services “significant increases.” Linehan also pointed to the $25 million in capital improvements that the South End will be seeing over four years, as designated by the capital budget.

Those projects include: a proposed $30,000 renovation to the South End Library Park; $4.4 million toward the reconstruction of Melnea Cass Boulevard; $179,000 to construct a playlot at the Union Park Street Playground; $15.8 million to the reconstruction of Massachusetts Avenue; and nearly $1.4 million to the on-going renovation of Peters Park. A host of other improvements have now been scheduled, including a $75,000 evaluation of the existing health center space in the Blackstone Community Center, renovations to the fountains in Blackstone and Franklin squares, and renovations to the neighborhood parks and playgrounds.