The Detroit City Council approved a $2.8 billion budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year following a marathon meeting with $33 million in changes to Mayor Mike Duggan’s proposal.
The council voted unanimously to authorize the budget after roughly a month of departmental hearings and a week of deliberation on additional investments. Council members also approved the pay schedule for city employees, a plan to spend surplus dollars and a request for Duggan’s administration to find future funding for other priorities.
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Monday’s meeting started around 11 a.m. and ended at 11:55 p.m., leaving only minutes to spare before the midnight deadline. The council took a few small breaks, including an afternoon recess to watch the solar eclipse that crossed through North America.
“Congratulations on another successful budget year,” Council President Mary Sheffield said after the meeting.
The $1.4 billion General Fund budget is the main source of money for city operations. Detroit’s income tax is expected to raise $397 million while wagering taxes on casinos will create $257 million and property taxes will create $162 million. State revenue sharing provides $245 million.
The budget creates a slight cut to property taxes used to pay off debt, dropping from 8 mills to 7 mills. A 19.952-mill tax for city operations was unchanged.
The budget also includes:
- Capital improvements in city facilities and parks
- A larger investment in the retiree pension fund with boosted retirement checks and benefits
- A 13% increase for the Department of Transportation for more bus drivers and higher wages
- More funding for trash collection, emergency shelters, police and fire personnel, cleanup of alleys, freeways and land bank properties.
Monday’s vote culminated a week of long discussions on how to pay for pet projects. At times, council members sparred with administration officials over funding priorities. Hours of discussion focused on reallocating around 2% of the General Fund.
Significant investments largely went toward capital projects. This included:
- $3.4 million for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
- $1.2 million to the Detroit Zoo, which also included insurance and a senior transportation program
- $1.75 million for Eastern Market improvements, plus $250,000 in support for Black-owned farms
- $2 million to reopen the Monteith Branch of the public library.
An earlier proposal from the City Council sought to shift $56 million in one-time spending toward council initiatives. Duggan’s administration encouraged the council to cut its wishlist in half and reallocate $25 million in one-time funding.
Irvin Corley, executive policy manager for the council’s Legislative Policy Division, said the final list of changes totaled $33 million. Council members referred to a spreadsheet listing programs and revenue sources that were not publicly available and had not been released as of Tuesday morning.
Some council initiatives were scaled back throughout the evening.
- Council Member Scott Benson reduced the funding he sought for electric vehicle chargers from $2 million to $1.2 million.
- Council Member Latisha Johnson dropped a $3 million funding request for emergency housing services during flood events after being told the city could seek grants instead.
- Council Member Coleman Young II failed to get enough support to add $80,580 for a Legislative Policy Division historian. Young said the position would help correct members who make mistakes while discussing complex issues like the Israel-Hamas war.
- Young also dropped a $2.6 million request to help the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority build a new dock behind Zug Island. Young said the $10 million cost would be split by the city, county and state.
Other members were more resolute. Council Member Angela Whitfield-Calloway fought throughout the day for $2.5 million to restore the Merrill Fountain at Palmer Park, and successfully held off an attempt to reduce the funding to $500,000.
Funding for council priorities was found by shifting money to other places. This includes prior year surpluses, savings from personnel vacancies, the risk management legal fund, and emergency demolitions, debt payments and blight cleanup on freeways, alleys, commercial corridors and land bank properties.
Council members also gave themselves a $100,000 budget increase for each office and included $150,000 in the budget for their annual retreat.
Battle over the bucks
Early Monday, Budget Director and Deputy Chief Financial Officer Steve Watson expressed broad concerns with funding sources suggested by the council’s Legislative Policy Division.
Watson said taking funds set aside for demolition and blight removal would undermine those programs. Using savings from personnel vacancies would leave city departments less equipped to deliver services, Watson said.
Watson also opposed shifting funds from a workforce investment account that will be needed to pay for retiree benefit enhancements and possible wage increases for labor unions that will negotiate contracts this year. The council later decided to leave this fund untouched.
Corley, of the Legislative Policy Division, described some of the administration’s explanations as “overkill” and others as “reasonable.” Corley said it’s up to the council to decide whether to trust the administration while closely watching how the budget is executed.
Corley scaled back funding the council sought to pull from savings created by vacancies in the Police Department. The council decided to use $1 million from the savings.
“$1 million is not going to have a dramatic effect on a ($441) million police budget, it’s not,” Corley said.
Monday’s budget session also resurfaced a frequent point of disagreement between Duggan and the council.
The Law Department argued it’s illegal to use General Fund dollars to pay for a lead safety program proposed by Whitfield-Calloway. She sought $2.5 million to seal lead hazards in private residences through a process known as lead encapsulation.
Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett said the Michigan Constitution prevents cities from “lending credit” for private purposes, which kicked off a lengthy debate over what qualifies as a public good.
“This lending of credit thing is confusing to me,” Corley said, reflecting the feelings of several council members who questioned how the law works.
Mallett said it’s not possible to improve private properties with public funds. Though protecting children from lead exposure is “a good and valid public purpose,” Mallett said the city supports lead removal through a federal program, enforces safety regulations through property inspections and funds lead testing through the Health Department.
“The idea that we would spend General Fund dollars for lead encapsulation is something that would be unconstitutional,” Mallett said. “There are some barriers across we simply cannot pass.”
Whitfield-Calloway said Detroit is obligated to make residences safe for children, particularly rental properties regulated by the city. Councilwoman Johnson and others said lead exposure is an environmental health issue that affects the public at large. They kept the funding in, though Watson said “expending the funds could present a major issue.”
Council members questioned how the lead proposal differs from other initiatives where city funds remove blight and demolish private property. Mallett said those programs are legal because the city recovers the cost from property owners.
“It’s not direct lending of credit because we are suing private owners for dollars we expended,” he said.
Mallett said he couldn’t provide an explanation on Monday for why the city is allowed to fund tree trimming on private property. The council included $2.5 million in one-time funds to continue a tree cleanup program launched last year.
A new $1.5 million residential snow removal program requested by Council Member Fred Durhal III was also considered legal because the city is paying community organizations to do the work.
Courts have determined that city-funded programs to promote job growth are an “essential government function,” Mallett said, and qualify as a legal public purpose.
Public accessibility
Residents had an opportunity to submit public comments on Monday. William Davis, a retired police commissioner and city employee, said the budget process should be more transparent.
Ruth Johnson, public policy director for Community Development Advocates of Detroit, alslo said the process isn’t accessible for the average resident. Johnson noted that budget documents discussed during meetings were not made publicly available.
Several residents who participated in public comment during Monday’s meetings argued for a larger investment in the city’s Right to Counsel legal aid program. Federal money used to pay lawyers to help prevent evictions is running out, and a long-term funding source hasn’t been identified.
Allyson Putt, public policy manager with the Detroit People’s Platform, cited statistics from the Michigan State Bar Foundation that found 95% of people who received full legal representation avoided eviction in 2023.
“If we want to keep our neighbors in their homes they need to be represented in court,” Putt said.
Sheffield said Right to Counsel is underfunded. She included $2 million in one-time funding to support the Office of Eviction Defense’s outreach efforts.