The City Council approved Mayor Mike Duggan’s $2.4 billion budget on Monday, the Detroit News reported yesterday. The budget is for the 2024 fiscal year.
The Council amended the budget to include where to allocate the funds from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the 2021 federal act that the Biden administration used to essentially keep the country economically afloat during the pandemic.
The Detroit News stated that the council decided to reallocate $59 million of the ARPA monies “to more immediate projects.” That meant moving the dollars from projects dealing with the digital divide, parks and recreation and small businesses to such things as neighborhood development, affordable housing and home repairs.
The reallocations include, according to the article:
- $19 million to increase the amount for affordable housing purposes to $31 million.
- $1 million to establish the Tangled Title program under which the ownership of intergenerational properties transferred without clean title would be resolved.
- $2 million for a Home Accessibility program to provide home repairs and improvements for seniors and residents with disabilities.
- $9.5 million to establish the Detroit Neighborhood Development Support for economic and infrastructure needs of Detroit neighborhoods.
- $9.5 million to increase funds for recreation center improvements to $39.5 million.
The City Council also proposed remedies for overtaxed homeowners, requested the administration to raise the pay for DDOT bus drives to $29 per hour, and allocated $3.7 to the Charles H. Wright Museum and the Historical Museum for operations and “capital improvements,” the Detroit News said.
