Westland council adopts 2025–26 budget, increases public-safety and capital spending without raising taxes

The Westland City Council on Monday unanimously adopted the city's fiscal 2025–26 budget, approving a six-year capital improvement plan and spending increases for public safety while keeping property tax levies unchanged for residents.

The adopted budget covers the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and the council approved a six-year, $25,300,000 capital improvement plan that the administration said will support 59 road projects, public-safety and facilities work, and other priorities. The council voted in favor after a roll call; the motion passed unanimously.

Why it matters: council members and the mayor said the budget restores staffing the city lacks, sets aside reserves and funds long-deferred infrastructure work. The mayor told the council, "We are actually putting away $600,000 into our rainy day fund. So it's a conservative budget." Council members also highlighted new hires and equipment purchases they said will affect daily public safety and neighborhood upkeep.

Key decisions and figures - Rainy-day fund: the administration said the budget will add $600,000 to the city's reserves, taking the rainy-day fund to nearly $13 million. - Public safety: the budget funds recruiting and hiring for the police department, purchase of four police vehicles and two motorcycles, and continued funding for a police social-work program. The administration said the city now has a record number of firefighters and EMT/paramedics and cited a total of 91 firefighters as current staffing. - Ordinance and neighborhood services: the budget adds four ordinance officers to the neighborhood services team, a change council members repeatedly urged during study sessions. - Capital investments: the six-year CIP totals $25.3 million; the mayor outlined $7.2 million in facilities and public-safety capital work including replacement and additions at fire stations and a proposed training center. A separate six-year water and sewer plan totaling about $30 million was described; the administration said $1.7 million of that is programmed for 2025–26 for equipment and system improvements.

Council discussion and process Council members praised lengthy collaboration between council and administration during the budget process, noting multiple study sessions and frequent staff-council meetings. Pro Tem Sampe and others emphasized fiscal caution and the need to plan for possible future reductions in federal community-development funding. Council members said they expect to track program results and will press for dashboards and performance metrics for new investments.

Public questions and follow-up A resident asked where federal funds appear in the budget. Finance staff answered that general-fund federal receipts appear on page 18 of the budget document and that CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) dollars had been adopted on May 5 and therefore are not reflected in the copy before council that night. The administration offered to provide the resident additional detail after the meeting.

What happens next The budget takes effect July 1. Council members and staff said they plan follow-up study sessions and monitoring to review implementation, and the administration said it will bring forward materials to show how new staffing and capital investments are being used.