A bag containing $826 million doesn't come down the chimney every day, and the city wants to spend it effectively.
The city wants to use part of its pandemic windfall to improve neighborhoods (Photo: Violet Ikonomova)
That was the message delivered Tuesday to City Council, as the Office of the Chief Financial Officer laid out its comprehensive wish list to spend the one-time windfall, known as the American Rescue Plan and part of President Biden's pandemic recovery package.
Dubbed the Detroit Future Fund, the plan reads like a wish list for the city: grants for home repairs, vacant property cleanup, home down payment assistance, more police vehicles, issuing free laptops, high-speed internet; technical support to seniors and students; and tracking affordable housing for residents.
Changes to the spending plan (from the initial plan announced in May) are the result of six weeks of discussions within a working group and two dozen city-led community input sessions.
Instead of $100 million apiece to address intergenerational poverty, restoring neighborhoods, and funding parks and cultural facilities, the city's proposal to use federal funding now allocates $105 million for job creation and $40 million for small business assistance.
The council has until June 30 to sign off on the plan.
The biggest adjustments from Mayor Mike Duggan's initial wish list are shifts of funding from neighborhood investments to small business assistance, employment and job creation. The city has already received half the money, and will get the other half in May 2022. All funds must be spent by 2024 or be returned to the federal government.
