Four takeaways from Duggan's budget plan

Four main takeaways:

🛏️ Homelessness: Spending $5 million more on homelessness services to continue offering the 300 new shelter beds added within the past couple of months.

• "We want this year to have a roof for every unsheltered person in this city who wants one," Duggan said.

🚌 Public transit: A $21.6 million budget increase for the Detroit Department of Transportation, including to hire 117 bus drivers.

• The number of buses on the street per day is up from 130 last year to 155 and is expected to increase to 175 by the end of the year.
• More drivers are needed to address the shortage that contributes to the DDOT buses' subpar on-time performance.
• But there also are concerns that bus collisions could increase with all of the hiring.

🗳️ Elections: A 40% increase to the election department's budget to handle the 2024 race, for which Detroit will have 14 early voting days.

🏗️ Job growth narrative: The mayor hailed City Council's approval of large, tax-break-receiving developments as bringing in jobs and helping grow the city's income tax revenue, contributing to its positive financial outlook.

• But council member Scott Benson asked how the investments the city is making will help with another revenue driver that poses consistent challenges: population growth. The city lost 10.5% of its population in the last 10 years, its seventh-straight decade of decline, per the 2020 Census.

• Duggan said he is continuing to fight the Census Bureau, whose estimating methods his administration disagrees with. He contends that "more people are moving in than are moving out."

Go deeper: Read the mayor's budget presentation for fiscal year 2024-25, which begins July 1.

• If you're looking for a fun Friday night activity, you can also watch the full presentation and council questions online.