DPW seeks $212 million in FY2027; council presses on inspections, sidewalks and traffic calming

Detroit’s Department of Public Works laid out its fiscal year 2027 funding plan on March 26, telling the city’s expanded Budget, Finance and Audit standing committee that the department is seeking roughly $212,000,000 and will target neighborhood maintenance, major resurfacing projects and a longstanding sidewalk backlog.

“Our budget for fiscal year 2027 is $212,000,000,” DPW Director Ron Brundish said in his presentation, noting the plan includes funding to “aggressively” address a backlog of about 6,300 residential sidewalk requests that existed as of Jan. 1, 2026. Brundish said the department split its request across four funds — general, street, metro and solid waste — and plans capital work including resurfacing 27 miles of residential streets and 17 miles of major thoroughfares, installing 300 speed humps and adding ADA-compliant ramps.

Why it matters: The package affects street safety, stormwater flow, curbside services and how much general-fund subsidy the city needs to support solid-waste operations. Council members used the hearing to press DPW on quality control for paving and sidewalk work, contractor accountability for solid-waste service, and to push for more traffic-calming investments in specific neighborhoods.

Council scrutiny and follow-ups

Members asked detailed operational questions after the presentation. Member Leticia Johnson raised recurring problems where newly installed ADA corners puddle, asking “how do you inspect the work that contractors perform, and how do we evaluate it?” Brundish said the city has roughly 52 in-house inspectors and project engineers who oversee their work, and that contractors are required to correct noncompliant work.

Johnson and other members pressed further: who inspects the inspectors, how are performance issues tracked, and whether additional training or technology could reduce recurring defects. Brundish invited follow-up and suggested the city engineer could provide more detailed inspection procedures.

Contracting, workforce and paving

Council members also questioned the balance of contractor spending and in-house labor. One member asked whether a substantial share of the roughly $45 million the department spends on professional contractual services could be brought in-house to create jobs. Brundish said decisions must be made on an activity-by-activity basis — contractors often handle major thoroughfare projects while DPW crews perform local-street resurfacing.

Sidewalks, metro fund and container expansion

Brundish said metro-fund revenue (telecommunications franchise payments) will be used in part to reduce the sidewalk backlog and that council-added funds will support a pilot to add containers along commercial corridors: the city plans to buy about 450 containers (300 recycling, 150 trash) for placement across all seven council districts and will consult council offices and DDOT on siting.

Solid-waste service and lost containers

Council leaders raised constituent complaints about missed pickups, contamination of recycling streams and the occasional loss of curbside containers after automated truck collection. The chair recounted a resident whose container was not returned and asked whether the city tracks those incidents. Brundish said contractors (Waste Management) have truck cameras and that, when reported, the operator or contractor should note the loss and dispatch a replacement container; he acknowledged the city currently tracks such events only through complaints and said DPW would provide more detail on reporting systems.

Traffic calming, grant-funded projects and nonmotorized maintenance

Deputy Director Sam Krasenstein described the city’s speed-hump program and federal Safe Streets for All grants, saying the department has installed more than 10,000 rubber cushions and plans an additional 300 asphalt humps this year; the Safe Streets grants target corridors with high crash histories and will begin installations in 2027. The department also purchased narrow sweepers for maintained protected bike lanes, and said nonmotorized pathway upkeep is funded within overall street-maintenance lines rather than as a separate budget item.

Technology and materials

Pro Tem Young and other members discussed emerging materials and technologies — including so-called smart roads, self-healing concrete and advanced asphalt mixes. Brundish said DPW has not implemented self-healing roads and relies on Michigan Department of Transportation–approved asphalt mixes; he welcomed fact-finding and pilot studies. The department also runs pilots using imagery and lidar to detect pavement deterioration and partners with a Mobility Innovation Office for predictive crash modeling.

Council actions taken

During the hearing the council passed a series of procedural motions — recorded as “no objections” — to add multiple items to executive session or the closing resolutions, including truck-route and streetscape studies (Schaefer, James Couzens, Chinatown), a $50,000 study on recycled-tire pavement, requests for funding for bike racks, and policy studies on smart roads and advanced materials. The body noted these will return for further consideration.

Public comment

Speakers during the abbreviated public-comment period urged the council to fund community organizations that help unhoused residents and veterans, and many callers and commenters urged expedited traffic-calming measures on Lafayette, Verner, Charlevoix and other neighborhood corridors where residents report drag racing and speeding.

What’s next

Council members said they will follow up with DPW for more detailed information on inspector staffing, contractor performance tracking, vacancy counts and the exact siting plan for commercial-corridor containers. The committee recessed until 2 p.m. after concluding the morning’s DPW budget hearing.