Detroit City Council OK's mayor's $2.7 billion fiscal budget with some tweaks

Detroit — The Detroit City Council worked late Monday to meet its deadline to approve a $2.7 billion budget that included the mayor's priorities of public safety and more shelters for those facing homelessness.

The council conducted 50 budget hearings over the past month to hear residents' concerns, which focused on public safety, removing lead in older homes, home repair funds in major development zones, reopening libraries and funding for a right-to-counsel ordinance that supports residents facing eviction.

The budget sessions spanned 12 hours. The unanimous vote was taken three minutes before the midnight deadline.

They also approved the city's compensation schedule known as the "White Book" of jobs and salaries. All city jobs pay a minimum of $15 an hour. They approved the city's tax structure: 19.52 mills for city operations and 7 mills for debt services, a one-mill decrease to property owners from the last budget.

Mayor Mike Duggan a month ago proposed a $2.76 billion budget, a 5% increase aimed at boosting the city's buses, giving retirees a bonus check, increasing police and fire funding, and fighting homelessness. The budget includes $1.46 billion for general fund activities.

It's the 11th balanced budget approved for Duggan. Copies of the final budget were not immediately available late Monday. The mayor has until the end of this week to veto changes.

The budget plan is for the fiscal year July 1 to June 30, 2025, when elections will be held for mayor and the City Council. Council President Mary Sheffield is exploring a run for mayor; Duggan hasn't announced whether he is running for reelection.

The City Council is charged with authorizing the mayor's spending plan and suggested its own list of $54 million it would like to see included.

Among the council's suggestions were $6.7 million in capital improvements; $2.5 million in one-time funding to establish a pilot lead-based paint program; $2.3 million to help shelter new arrivals; $1.5 million to construct Shed 4 in Eastern Market, along with $250,000 in additional funding Eastern Market; $2.7 million for Detroit Police safety training; $2 million more for Animal Control; $1 million for the Senior Accessibility Program Fund; and $1 million more into the Retiree Rainy Day Fund.

The administration targeted $10 million for active employee retirement benefits, $5 million for homelessness services, $2 million to increase wages for hard-to-fill city jobs, $1 million for the Public Lighting Authority to repair outages and $1 million to upgrade the city's cybersecurity systems, he said.

The Elections Department saw a 40% budget increase, in part to accommodate 14 days of early voting.

Detroit's Housing and Revitalization Department also will receive a 40% bump with $5 million in permanent funding to address homelessness instead of relying on federal grants. The city added 300 shelter beds in the last five months, and Duggan said he wants to see more beds because shelters are at capacity.

Sheffield, who represents District 5, said late Monday that she and her colleagues hear all year from residents about their budget priorities. The council, she said, appreciates the administration's effort to present a balanced budget.

"With that said, it is important to always approach this process with an open mind and the understanding that the funds we are deliberating over are the people's funds," Sheffield said. "I believe, like last year, we have had another historic and successful budget cycle in the context of being responsive to our constituents and having the budget reflect our values as a city.

"In total, we directed over $30 million in one-time funding and over $3 million in recurring funding for the priorities of the people."

Changes the council made

The council reallocated $37.34 million, or about 2%, from Duggan's proposal to add its own priorities.

Nearly all the funds were taken from one-time appropriations the administration proposed, including the city's alley cleanup program ($2.7 million) and the Risk Management Fund ($10 million). The council also cut recurring funding to the Port Authority by $100,000, funding to the Land Bank Authority by $500,000 and funding to the Public Lighting Authority by $500,000.

Hours into the discussion Monday and before the budget was approved, at-large Councilman Coleman A. Young II successfully pushed for $2.6 million in additional funding to build a new Port Authority dock. The Port Authority remains in a "Master Concession Agreement" with the Moroun family's Ambassador Port Co. that privatized control of the governmental entity during then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's tenure in 2005. Young told the council that the Port Authority has identified 21 acres on which to build a port on West Jefferson behind Zug Island. The cost would be $10 million, 25% paid for by the city, 25% paid by the county and 50% paid by the state, he said.

Young's bid for $80,580 for a historian for the Legislative Policy Division, however, received little support. He removed the resolution, saying not funding it was a "mistake of epic proportions."

District 2 Councilwoman Angela Whitfield-Calloway pushed to add $2.5 million to restore the Merrill Fountain, which once stood in Campus Martius before it was moved to Palmer Park in her district. Council President Pro Tem James Tate and a handful of other members pushed back, asking for a breakdown of costs for the fountain. An amended proposal dropping it to $500,000 did not pass.

At-large Councilwoman Mary Waters requested a $1.1 million recurring fund to establish a veterans services department. Tanya Stoudemire, deputy CFO, said the administration was not prepared to establish a department but was considering adding a liaison to the city's Civil Rights and Inclusion Office. Waters declined to back that effort, saying the city would not get grant support without its own veterans department.

"Our veterans have so many needs. Housing is just one aspect and we want a more holistic support for our veterans," Waters said. "They don't know what Wayne County or the state has to offer, but they know their city. I don't want this (issue) to die out. I'm trying to figure out how to keep it alive."

The Duggan administration proposed a bonus for city retirees in what is known as a 13th check, or an extra monthly payment. More money also is being targeted for police and fire services as well as for preventing homelessness by "providing a roof for everyone that wants one," Duggan said.

Police Board Commissioner William Davis called for greater transparency in the budget.

"It has been a problem in the city of Detroit for some time," Davis told the council during the public comment portion Monday. "City of Detroit retirees have had a cut into their benefits, like myself, a 23% cut ... can any of ya'll live on 23% less than what you were living on 10 years ago? Things have increased.

"We also need to know how much is actually going to our public institutions and how much they're not getting. We need to improve services and make sure vehicles stay in the city of Detroit and not for other purposes."

Tonya Myers Phillips, an attorney with Detroit's Right to Counsel Coalition, said she's angry the administration has not proposed any additional dollars to fund the assistance program despite helping hundreds of Detroiters during the pandemic.

"It is a law, a systemic change that helps thousands of Detroit residents, primarily black women, children and seniors," she said, referring to the ordinance for the right to counsel passed in 2022. "It provides true access to justice in our court system. We are calling on the Duggan administration and the Detroit City Council to fund this law ..."

By the numbers

A little more than half of the budget, or $1.46 billion, is dedicated to Detroit's general fund, with much of it allocated for city employee wage and benefits, 20% toward debt payment and pre-bankruptcy pension costs, and 27% for city services. General fund money comes from income tax, state revenue sharing, wagering tax, property tax and utility users tax revenue.

According to the city, there are about 8,500 small businesses, 300 city-owned parks, 30 city-owned leisure sites and 15 city-owned recreation centers.

Detroit Police Department positions increased by 88 from 3,440 positions to 3,528 for fiscal year 2025. The mayor proposed an appropriation of $442 million, a $52 million increase from last year's budget. The funding is slated for the Detroit Detention Center ($3 million), a new transit police division, ($5 million) and $14 million for police overtime to cover vacancies.

There is a 13% jump to $189 million for the Detroit Department of Transportation, which gets much of its funding outside of the general fund. The increase would finance 627 bus drivers, up from the 510 drivers financed in the current budget, as well as pay raises approved in January. 

Safety concerns have riddled the transportation department, with a Detroit News report finding city bus drivers averaged more than one collision per day in 2023. There are more than 5,000 bus stops in the city.

The city also has worked on 65,000 streetlights and 10,000 speed humps in the past year through general service funding. The city received $826 million in American Rescue Plan Act federal pandemic relief funds and has allocated 45% of its funds.

The budget plan includes $101 million in one-time spending, a $38 million increase from last year, financed by a prior year surplus.

Among the one-time spending items are $20 million for facility improvements such as parks; $17.5 million for cleanup on freeways, alleys and land bank properties; $15 million to demolish blighted properties; $4 million for elections; $3 million for Fire Department and EMS overtime; and $8 million for other one-time expenditures.

The Detroit City Council, composed of nine council members, has a $15.5 million budget.

srahal@detroitnews.com

X: @SarahRahal_