LANSING, Mich. — The Lansing City Council has offered amendments to Mayor Andy Schor’s budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year.
Members of Council said they’ve thought long and hard about the amendments they’ve proposed for Schor's budget.
"Often times we would have different priorities than what the mayor would get when he’s putting the budget together, and there may even be things that come up during the budget process,” said Council Vice President Carol Wood.
In Schor’s $241 million budget proposal, he removed certain expenses from the city’s general fund, hoping to pay for those things out of the $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act Money the city will be getting in August. The Council amended that part of the proposal.
“So our goal is to put back in normal programming dollars that we have done for years and making sure those are taken care of and as we look over the next month or two with the ARPA dollars, we can determine how best we’re going to spend those,” Wood said.
“If council’s preference is to move them back into the general fund and worry about the ARPA Dollars in the later on, I’m fine with that,” Schor said.
The council's only other amendment was to add $500,000 to the local roads fund.
“You know, if I’m looking at buying a house, and I’m driving down a rocky road to get the house, that will make a difference whether I buy the house in that neighborhood or not, and we want people to buy homes here in Lansing,” Wood said.
