Detroit council spends fourth executive session narrowing Mayor Duggan’s $3 billion budget; dozens of line items added, moved or removed

Detroit City Council members spent a fourth executive-session meeting reviewing possible changes to Mayor Mike Duggan’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget, voting to add and remove line items, to move some matters into the closing resolution and to earmark specific one‑time expenditures — while administration and council staff disagreed on how much discretionary funding was realistically available.

The session, led by Legislative Policy Division staffer Mr. Thomas Corley, began with a reminder of the budget’s scale: “we are only working with a finite set of dollars of around $3,000,000,000,” Corley said, and he emphasized that council can directly influence roughly $1,600,000,000 in the general fund while the remainder is restricted for enterprise, grant or dedicated uses. That framing guided much of the discussion as members debated whether requests could be funded from one‑time surplus, projected revenue, ARPA dollars or recurring cuts.

Why it matters: Council must adopt a final fiscal 2026 budget by its April deadline. Any monetary changes the council approves must be offset by identified sources and will be reflected on Schedule B at the council vote; the administration may veto council changes before an override vote is possible.

Most significant funding debates

LPD staff presented a sources memo that identified roughly $51 million in proposed one‑time general fund sources and about $6.5 million in recurring sources available for council changes. CFO Stoudemire disputed portions of that assessment, saying the administration’s estimate of available fund balance and carryover was lower and urging caution: “we vehemently disagree with this. We think the estimates that Mr. Corley has indicated here for ’25 and ’26 are too low,” Stoudemire said, and warned the risk management fund remains a major exposure.

Council members asked staff to prioritize aligning proposed additions with funding sources before approving large lists of items. Corley said LPD would continue updating the executive‑session spreadsheet daily and recommended starting by voting on sources before taking each line item.

Actions taken and items added

Council members moved a large number of discrete actions — most approved by voice vote with no objections recorded in the transcript — adding items to the executive‑session spreadsheet, removing others, and designating several items for the closing resolution rather than direct fiscal action. Notable approved motions included:

- Council member Scott Benson moved to add $330,000 to department 35 (elected officials compensation) for fiscal 2026; the motion was adopted with no objections.

- Council President Pro Tem James Tate moved $190,000 to General Services Department for programming at the JET Community Center in District 1; adopted with no objections.

- Council member Angela Whitfield Callaway moved $500,000 to the Department of Public Works for citywide recyclable trash bins; adopted with no objections.

- Council member Scott Vincent moved to add to executive session a recurring reduction of the general‑fund subsidy to the Solid Waste Fund by $4,000,000; staff and administration discussed tradeoffs between service level reductions, contract changes and staffing impacts, and the item was added to the spreadsheet for further consideration.

- Council members agreed to add a $1,000,000 one‑time operational request for the Detroit Historical Museum and a $975,000 capital request associated with the president’s item; both amounts were recorded in the spreadsheet.

- A $250,000 request for Rack It Up Detroit was added to executive session for further discussion; a $25,000 pilot blight patrol stipend program and a $93,000 one‑time mattress request for firefighters were also added to the spreadsheet.

- Multiple line items were moved from the executive spreadsheet into the council’s closing resolution (non‑monetary policy directions or priorities). Council and administration agreed to add language for monitoring monetary changes and for tracking Detroit Financial Review Commission requirements into the administration’s closing resolution.

Staff clarifications and department responses

LPD and the CFO disagreed on the quantum of available one‑time sources. Corley cited a prior fiscal 2024 general‑fund surplus and February revenue estimates showing possible current‑year surplus; he recommended using roughly $12 million of prior year surplus and $10 million of projected current‑year revenue surplus for council priorities. Stoudemire expressed concern that taking the larger amounts would leave the general fund cushion too thin and said she and administration staff would work with council to identify specific capital projects and other internal adjustments that could provide space for council priorities.

Council members also removed several requests after departmental follow‑up. For example:

- Council member Leticia Johnson moved to remove an LPD line item for water infrastructure modeling after she confirmed Detroit Water and Sewer Department already has modeling software in place.

- Council member Calloway withdrew two GSD requests after talking with the department director; those items were removed from the spreadsheet.

- Members agreed to pin or revisit larger capital asks (airport infrastructure, certain DDOT capital items funded by formula grants) while administration staff researched whether federal formula (FTA 5307) funds or other capital allocations could cover them.

Process notes and next steps

Corley said LPD will post the evolving executive‑session spreadsheet on its website and produce updated versions daily. He also reminded members that any monetary change must be balanced with identified sources and that the mayor can veto council changes by line item after council votes; a two‑thirds override would then be required to reverse any veto.

Council recessed the executive session to reconvene later in the day; members agreed to consolidate public comment to the end of the day because executive session deliberations are not structured as public hearings.

Ending

Members directed staff to continue reconciling LPD‑proposed sources with administration projections, to follow up with departments on feasibility of individual requests, and to resume executive session later in the afternoon to continue line‑by‑line votes and to finalize the council closing resolution language. The council’s final fiscal‑2026 vote remains subject to the procedural deadlines and mayoral veto timeline Corley summarized.

Votes at a glance (selected items recorded in transcript)

- Add $330,000 to elected officials compensation (Dept. 35) — mover: Council Member Scott Benson — outcome: approved (no objections).

- Add $190,000 to GSD for JET Community Center programming (District 1) — mover: Pro Tem James Tate — outcome: approved (no objections).

- Add $500,000 to DPW for citywide recyclable bins — mover: Council Member Angela Whitfield Callaway — outcome: approved (no objections).

- Add to executive session a recurring $4,000,000 reduction in general‑fund subsidy to Solid Waste Fund — mover: Council Member Scott Vincent — outcome: added to spreadsheet for further action.

- Add $1,000,000 one‑time operational funding for Detroit Historical Museum — mover: Council Member Scott Benson — outcome: added to spreadsheet (no objections).

- Add Rack It Up Detroit $250,000 to executive session for further discussion — movers: Council Member ??? (item presented by Member Benson and Coleman Young co-sponsor noted) — outcome: added for discussion.

- Add $93,000 one‑time for firefighter mattresses — mover: Council Member Mary Waters — outcome: added to spreadsheet.

- Multiple line items (including items 51, 52, 129, 197, 241 and others discussed) moved into the council closing resolution — outcome: moved to closing resolution (no objections reported).

Quoted in story

- Thomas Corley, Legislative Policy Division staff: “we are only working with a finite set of dollars of around $3,000,000,000.”

- CFO Stoudemire: “We vehemently disagree with this. We think the estimates that Mr. Corley has indicated here for ’25 and ’26 are too low.”

- Council Member Scott Vincent (on solid‑waste subsidy): “we need to live within our means” and argued for aligning service levels with revenues.

Sources and limitations

This article is based on the meeting transcript of the Detroit City Council executive session provided for this item. The session was a deliberative executive session; many items were added to or removed from an internal spreadsheet and some were pinned for further departmental follow‑up. Where dollar amounts or item numbers were not included in the transcript or were characterized as estimates by staff, the article states those figures as presented in the meeting rather than as final allocations.