OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Budget Hearing for Office of the Chief Financial Officer – March 25, 2026

City Council — Wednesday, March 25, 2026
BodyDetroit, Michigan
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, March 25, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:23:29

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

And welcome back.

0:01

We are in part two of our budget hearings for today, the expanded budget finance and audit standing committee for the purpose uh purposes of budget hearings.

0:10

Uh Madam Clerk, good afternoon.

0:12

Good afternoon.

0:13

Will you please call the roll?

0:14

I will.

0:15

Thank you.

0:16

Councilmember Scott Benson.

0:18

Councilmember Letitia Johnson.

0:20

Present.

0:20

Councilmember Denzel McCampbell.

0:23

Councilmember Reneta Miller.

0:25

Member Miller indicated that she is addressing a family issue.

0:28

Councilmember Gabriela Santiago Romero.

0:31

Present.

0:32

Councilmember Mary Waters.

0:34

Councilmember Angela Whitfield Callaway.

0:37

Council President Pro Tim Goldman Young.

0:40

Here.

0:41

Council President James Tate.

0:43

Here.

0:45

Mr.

0:46

We have quorum.

0:47

Thank you so much.

0:48

We have a quorum, which means we're now back in session officially, and we are ready for the budget hearing for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer OLCO's office.

0:57

Come on now.

1:12

And good afternoon to you.

1:16

Please introduce your team and you may proceed when you're ready.

1:25

I'm Tanya Studemar at the CFO for the city of Detroit.

1:29

To my right is Deputy CFO budget director Donnie Johnson.

1:34

And to my left is our Chief Deputy CFO Regina Greer.

1:39

Other presenters will include Deputy CFOs Alvin Horn and Sandra Stahl, who are sitting behind us.

1:55

The Office of the CFO directly aligns with the mayor's rise higher vision.

2:01

The OCFO will continue to create and implement a financial infrastructure that results in a structurally balanced budget for each fiscal year and long-term plan.

2:13

In partnership with other departments, the OCFO will align funding with the priorities of the Sheffield administration, supporting stronger neighborhoods, economic opportunity, population growth, public safety, and equity for Detroit residents.

2:30

The position of the CFO was established by state law under the Home Rule City Act in 2014 to oversee all financial activities in the city.

2:49

So you will see that this budget actually has a new financial function that is part of our presentation.

3:45

Some of our accomplishments include Moody's bond rating upgrade with a positive outlook.

3:52

This indicates that if we stay on course, we could potentially get an upgrade this year.

3:58

The city received awards for both our annual comprehensive financial report and our four-year financial plan.

4:06

We ended fiscal year 25 with a 105 million dollar surplus.

4:12

Also, after five years of waiting, we finally received our 21 million dollar COVID reimbursement from FEMA.

4:21

So that's also part of the mayor's budget.

4:26

Also, we have just over a hundred million dollars remaining in ARPRA funds that need to be spent by the end of the calendar year.

4:35

Next, Mr.

4:37

Johnson will provide an OCFO budget details overview.

4:41

All right.

4:43

So OCFO's budget generally, we're going to focus obviously on the general fund component.

4:48

As you can see, not a large change year over year.

4:55

Um considering the nature of our department.

5:00

So you will see the increases to OCFO's budget are really attributable primarily to the typical annual wage inflation.

5:07

So that's really the biggest driver of our in our year over year increase.

5:10

So you know, having less than a two million dollar overall increase to our budget.

5:15

In order to accomplish this, we did find efficiencies in a number of places, as CFO Sodemeyer indicated.

5:22

We do have a new division in OCFO.

5:24

While most of that is not in the general fund, a small portion is, and in order to make sure that we did not completely exceed our baseline, we did make efficiencies accordingly.

5:34

On the next slide for positions, you can see where we accomplished that.

5:38

So we went through and diligent diligently went through each of the divisions budgets with the deputy CFOs of those divisions and worked out you know how to right size their head count.

5:50

Like a many departments, OCFO did have some vacancies, and so we were able to take some vacancies.

5:55

So these reductions did not affect will not affect our operations or our ability to do our job.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Budget████████████████████████24%
Procurement███████████11%
Fiscal Sustainability██████████10%
Fleet Management████████8%
Technology and Innovation███████7%
Contract Management██████6%
Public Safety██████6%
Assessment█████5%
Housing█████5%
Summary of Proceedings

Budget Hearing for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer – March 25, 2026

This budget hearing for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) took place during the expanded Budget, Finance, and Audit Standing Committee on March 25, 2026. The OCFO presented its fiscal year 2027 budget, highlighted accomplishments, and responded to council members' questions and motions regarding financial management, revenue diversification, and program priorities.

Presentation Highlights

  • OCFO Accomplishments: Moody's bond rating upgrade with positive outlook, awards for financial reports and four-year plan, $105 million surplus at end of fiscal year 2025, $21 million FEMA COVID-19 reimbursement received after five years, and $100 million in remaining ARPA funds to be spent by December 31, 2026.
  • Budget Overview: The OCFO's general fund budget increased by less than $2 million, primarily due to wage inflation. Efficiencies were found by reducing vacancies, with no impact on operations.
  • Treasury: The senior citizens' solid waste fee reduction program had 2,472 approved applicants in 2024, 750 in 2025, and 444 in 2026 to date. Property tax collection on current taxes stood at 84% in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Tax clearances totaled 7,516 in 2024 and 6,499 in 2025, attributed to ordinance changes.
  • Grants Management: The Office of Development and Grants manages over $3 billion in federal, state, local, and private funds, with 81% from federal sources. ARPA spending reached 87% of the original $826 million allocation, with full expenditure expected by December 31, 2026.
  • Assessor's Office: The city is implementing a multiple regression analysis model for residential property valuation, now in its second year of a three-year proof of concept. This technology-driven approach aims to address overassessment, with residential neighborhoods increasing from 208 to 287 in 2025 and a target of 335 by year's end. 85% of sales in Detroit are quick claim deeds or land contracts, which do not meet market value definitions.
  • Procurement: The Office of Contracting and Procurement streamlined $4 million in small contracts, with 47% awarded to Detroit-based businesses and 55% to city vendors. A new bid platform, Bonfire/Una, launched in December 2025, registered 3,800 vendors and published 114 solicitations. A new supervisory contract procurement specialist position is requested for technology procurement expertise.

Council Discussion and Motions

  • Member Benson: Praised OCFO's fiscal discipline and 12 years of balanced budgets. He had no questions but placed a motion to encourage participatory budgeting (joined by Members Santiago Romero and Callaway). Motion adopted.
  • Member McCampbell: Asked about diversifying revenue streams (e.g., local sales tax model like Chicago); OCFO stated modeling is underway but no final decision. He also confirmed retiree pension funding is on track, with an additional $10 million for a prorated 13th check this year. Motion to urge participatory budgeting adopted.
  • Member Pro Tem Young: Requested enhanced key performance indicators including debt-to-GDP ratio, debt per capita, debt per household, and total factor productivity. He also asked the assessor about using AI and drones; the assessor confirmed SPSS software includes an AI component but the project is still in early stages. He also questioned procurement ease for small businesses; OCP noted barriers to starting a business may limit Detroit vendors. He placed a motion for artificial intelligence and a municipal public bank study based on North Dakota's model. Motion adopted.
  • Member Johnson: Asked about ARPA spending plan; OCFO will return in four weeks with a list of projects needing additional funds and potential rescissions. She also asked about property transfer trends; the assessor reported a 3.1% increase in transfers from 2024 to 2025, with 1-2% growth expected in 2026. Motion to evaluate requiring pre-sale inspections adopted.
  • Member Callaway: Asked about a local entertainment/amusement tax; OCFO estimated $30 million in unrestricted revenue would equate to about 4 mills in property tax reduction. She also raised concerns about risk management from lawsuits, primarily against DPD and DDoT. Motions to put the entertainment/amusement tax discussion and risk management into the closing resolution were both adopted. She initially motioned for a fleet vehicle accounting but withdrew to a memo after OCFO noted it would require 45 days to coordinate with GSD.
  • Member Waters: Asked about HUD compliance moving to OCFO; OCFO confirmed 20-25 staff from HRD will transfer to manage HUD grants. Motion to place remaining ARPA dollars into executive session adopted. She also requested a projection on the impact of tariffs and war cost pressures; OCFO will respond within two weeks.
  • Member Santiago Romero: Asked about a truck enforcement pilot program; OCFO estimated $750,000 for a pilot in District 6. She placed a motion for $1 million to pilot in Districts 6 and 4, later amended to include District 7 (joined by Members Johnson and McCampbell). Motion adopted. She also placed a motion to add the Office of Sustainability to executive session for further resource discussion (joined by Member Benson). Motion adopted.
  • Member Benson: Placed motions for a sustainability fund for the Office of Sustainability and continued growth of the rainy day fund, both adopted.
  • Council President Tate: Discussed the general fund surplus—$2.2 million projected for the current year and $127 million in prior year surplus broken into three buckets ($49.5M general fund, $38.6M blight remediation fund, $39M capital projects). He noted that council's proposed changes (approx. $20M) would require reducing the mayor's priorities, as there is no cushion.

Key Outcomes

  • All motions listed above were adopted by voice vote with no objections, sending items to executive session or closing resolution as appropriate.
  • Council changes totaling an estimated $30.39 million (as tracked) will be discussed in executive session; OCFO will provide an executive session spreadsheet by March 27, 2026.
  • OCFO will return in four weeks with a detailed ARPA reallocation plan, and in two weeks with an assessment of tariff/war impacts on city costs.
  • The budget hearing concluded with OCFO thanking council and committing to work together to achieve a balanced budget while maintaining a cushion.

Meeting Transcript

And welcome back. We are in part two of our budget hearings for today, the expanded budget finance and audit standing committee for the purpose uh purposes of budget hearings. Uh Madam Clerk, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Will you please call the roll? I will. Thank you. Councilmember Scott Benson. Councilmember Letitia Johnson. Present. Councilmember Denzel McCampbell. Councilmember Reneta Miller. Member Miller indicated that she is addressing a family issue. Councilmember Gabriela Santiago Romero. Present. Councilmember Mary Waters. Councilmember Angela Whitfield Callaway. Council President Pro Tim Goldman Young. Here. Council President James Tate. Here. Mr. We have quorum. Thank you so much. We have a quorum, which means we're now back in session officially, and we are ready for the budget hearing for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer OLCO's office. Come on now. And good afternoon to you. Please introduce your team and you may proceed when you're ready. I'm Tanya Studemar at the CFO for the city of Detroit. To my right is Deputy CFO budget director Donnie Johnson. And to my left is our Chief Deputy CFO Regina Greer. Other presenters will include Deputy CFOs Alvin Horn and Sandra Stahl, who are sitting behind us. The Office of the CFO directly aligns with the mayor's rise higher vision. The OCFO will continue to create and implement a financial infrastructure that results in a structurally balanced budget for each fiscal year and long-term plan. In partnership with other departments, the OCFO will align funding with the priorities of the Sheffield administration, supporting stronger neighborhoods, economic opportunity, population growth, public safety, and equity for Detroit residents. The position of the CFO was established by state law under the Home Rule City Act in 2014 to oversee all financial activities in the city. So you will see that this budget actually has a new financial function that is part of our presentation. Some of our accomplishments include Moody's bond rating upgrade with a positive outlook. This indicates that if we stay on course, we could potentially get an upgrade this year. The city received awards for both our annual comprehensive financial report and our four-year financial plan. We ended fiscal year 25 with a 105 million dollar surplus. Also, after five years of waiting, we finally received our 21 million dollar COVID reimbursement from FEMA. So that's also part of the mayor's budget. Also, we have just over a hundred million dollars remaining in ARPRA funds that need to be spent by the end of the calendar year. Next, Mr. Johnson will provide an OCFO budget details overview. All right. So OCFO's budget generally, we're going to focus obviously on the general fund component. As you can see, not a large change year over year. Um considering the nature of our department.

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