Sheffield unveils budget with youth, wages as priorities
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Mayor Mary Sheffield (center) listens during her budget presentation. Photo: Courtesy of City of Detroit via Flickr
Alleviating poverty and helping youth took top billing in Mayor Mary Sheffield's first proposed budget, released Monday.
Why it matters: The $1.6 billion general fund budget proposal — $3 billion across all funding sources — is an early indicator of how Sheffield could use city resources to turn campaign promises into action.
State of play: Sheffield's presentation to City Council represented a flip in perspective after 12 years spent as a council member listening to former Mayor Mike Duggan's proposals.
- Several council members praised the effort, with President James Tate telling Sheffield, "It's very clear you've been listening to the residents."
Our top takeaways:
🎒 Kid focus: The mayor has no jurisdiction over schools, but she aims to strengthen how the city supports youth in other ways.
- She wants new city positions to build relationships with public and charter schools, along with increased funding for after-school programs, summer programs and extended summer rec center hours.
- The proposed budget includes plans for a new office of early education, as well as letting public school students ride city buses free year-round.
💭 New-build housing: It's prohibitively expensive to build single-family houses on Detroit's large swaths of vacant land. Sheffield's administration wants to set aside federal dollars to determine innovative solutions to that problem, like modular or even 3D-printed homes.
💰 Living wage example: Sheffield says that to encourage private employers to increase Detroit residents' wages — which lag far behind those of nonresidents working here — the city needs to lead by example.
- Starting July 1, per her plan, all city employees will be paid at least $44,616 annually, the state-determined living wage in Wayne County. The change would affect around 900 employees and cost the city $7.9 million in added payroll.
- Sheffield is also calling for a $30 million increase in the Department of Transportation budget, chiefly for raising driver and engineer wages.
Another notable proposal involves a small decrease in residents' property taxes of 1 mill.
- Sheffield also included the new, previously announced Department of Human, Homeless and Family Services, which will take over homelessness and poverty relief services.
What's next: City Council will analyze and adjust the budget ahead of an early April vote.