After hours of negotiations, Detroit City Council approved Mayor Mike Duggan’s $2.4 billion dollar budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Detroit City Council had to vote on the budget by midnight on April 14 and they ended up voting an hour before that deadline.
The budget will be presented to Duggan on Monday and he will have until Thursday to veto it.
A representative for Duggan's administration says the Mayor has indicated that he feels the budget represents a good mix of perspectives and priorities.
City Council President Mary Sheffield said the weeks-long approval process included 46 executive sessions and budget hearings.
"While we certainly have not been able to meet every need or adequately address every priority, City Council’s closing resolution shows our commitment and our intent to continue to listen to our constituents," Sheffield said.
When Duggan proposed the budget, it included a $1.2 billion general spending fund plan.
The proposed budget prioritized the retiree pension fund, maintaining city buildings, improvements to transit service, blight remediation and neighborhood beautification projects.
Duggan allocated around $50 million dollars for one-time investments into maintaining city buildings, parks, museums, the city airport and neighborhood planning studies.
It also included a $30 million dollar deposit into the city’s Rainy Day Fund.
Duggan called it a “post-COVID budget.”
This plan follows a $400 million dollar budget cut in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Duggan says this will be the city’s eighth balanced budget.
The budget is for the fiscal year and begins July 1 and ends July 30, 2023.
About $72.3 million in the city's general fund would be for improvements to DDOT transit service and the People Mover. $17.5 million is planned to go to blight remediation and beautification projects in the city.
