City Council during budget proceedings. Photo: Courtesy of city of Detroit via Flickr
Sheffield called this year's budget process "seamless and smooth," per the Detroit News, with Council President James Tate adding that they agreed on most issues.
State of play: The $3 billion budget — slightly smaller than last year's, with slowed revenue — was approved by council Tuesday and signed by the mayor Wednesday.
It increases funding for transit, creates a new homeless and human services department and cuts property taxes by 1 mill.
It also includes wage hikes for about 900 employees to bring them up to the state-determined living wage in Wayne County ($44,616 annually).
Cuts in the final budget include $3 million from the police department and $3.5 million from blight remediation, per the Free Press.
While priorities were kept intact, council did make some smaller changes:
$72,000 for the civil rights department to improve a language program helping limited English speakers with city services.
$75,000 for the Health Department to buy child-proof containers, similar to gun locks, for cannabis products.
$525,000 over two years for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.'s Green Grocer program and $240,000 for an urban farmers grant program.
