The Boston City Council on Wednesday approved a $4 billion city budget after wrangling over whether to cut police and fire department accounts and send the funds over to youth workers and other council priorities.

Just before the July 1 start of the 2023 fiscal year, the councillors, newly empowered with the ability to override Mayor Michelle Wu’s version of the budget, voted to cut more than $1 million from fire department accounts but fell short in an effort to cut millions more from police.

Councillors voted unanimously to take the money from the fire department and move it to other accounts such as the Office of Black Male Advancement and another city agency focused on helping transition residents who are coming out of incarceration. The override also included moving the money into a pilot for housing stipends for young people ages 19 to 24 and increasing Parks and Recreation Department’s capacity for tree maintenance.

During the debate, Councillor Ruthzee Louijeune said the override was an example of the City Council “leaning into its power,” given to them by voters after a 2021 ballot question changed the city charter. The 13-member previously could only accept, reject or reduce the budget as proposed by the mayor, setting off annual behind-the-scenes scrambles as councillors and the mayor worked out rewrites to the budget.

The new system allows the City Council to amend line items, without going over budget, and requires the mayor to approve or return an amended version. The council can override the mayor’s amendments by a two-thirds (nine members) vote. Wednesday’s City Council meeting was punctuated by recesses, as councillors grappled with their first turn through the new system.

Councillors Erin Murphy and Frank Baker questioned the push to pull money from the fire department. “We’re raiding the fire department for other things,” Baker said. “What happens if we take it out and they do need it?”

Councillor Tania Fernandes Anderson, the first-time chair of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, said fire department officials themselves told councillors the money is unspent. The choice is fire equipment that the department says it doesn’t need, or to “save Black men,” she said.

Added Councillor Brian Worrell, citing the youth housing pilot, among other accounts: “This is real simple for me. It’s about urgency. It’s about making an investment into communities, into people and moving our city forward.”

The Dorchester-based firefighters union, Local 718, said in a statement they are “extremely disappointed that after 30 hearings & working sessions the only substantial reduction to the city’s $4 billion budget came at the expense” of the fire department.

“The Mayor & City Council chose not to compromise on the opportunity to increase critical public safety and immediate diversity within the Officer ranks,” their statement added.

A second override, aimed at taking $2.4 million out of police accounts failed to garner the two-thirds needed. The override proposal was a retreat from a previous council effort to cut $10 million that the mayor opposed because state law requires all public safety overtime hours to be paid. Override proponents sought to send the money towards youth jobs accounts.

Councillors Baker and Murphy, along with City Council President Ed Flynn and Councillors Michael Flaherty and Kenzie Bok, opposed the override.

Murphy said she supports youth jobs but did not agree with taking money out of Boston Police accounts. She added that she looked into how many youth summer jobs are going unfilled, and found that out of 6,000 offered, 2,000 have been filled. “These jobs will continue to go vacant,” she said.

Apart from the Council’s wrangling over specific accounts, the $4 billion city budget overall includes money for building and acquiring new affordable housing units; a housing voucher program; a citywide composting program; and new outfits such as a Center for Behavioral Health within the Boston Public Health Commission and an Office of Early Childhood, which is seeking to create a “one-stop shop for enrollment and access” to early education and childcare programs.

After the Council’s budget vote, Wu said in a statement that the move sets aside “resources over the next year to set a foundation for the future, connect our communities, and deliver on the details of City services across our neighborhoods.”

“I’m grateful to the Council for their partnership in advancing the bold actions and city services that our residents deserve,” she added.

Fernandes Anderson, whose district includes part of Dorchester, won praise from colleagues for her work as the Ways and Means chair. Before her election in 2021, she was a social worker and the former executive director of Bowdoin Geneva Main Streets.

At the start of the council’s budget debate on Wednesday, Fernandes Anderson pushed for the overrides and thanked her fellow councillors for their support and kindness, and while looking across the room in Baker’s direction, lamented that others were rude and unkind.

Later, as councillors started to vote on the first override, involving the fire department cuts, Baker hesitated for several seconds before casting his vote in favor of the cuts. When the roll call reached Fernandes Anderson, she also voted yes, of course, but quipped, “And I love you, Baker.”