On Wednesday, September 20th, City Council held a Finance and Budget Committee meeting on the 2024 City Budget. Committee meetings are not recorded and the VRS team attended in person to learn more about this topic.

Some items discussed at this meeting were previously discussed at the commitee meeting held on May 31st. Read the summary here: https://voterunservelivonia.com/…/finance-and-budget…/

Read the complete agenda packet from tonight’s meeting here: https://livoniami.portal.civicclerk.com/event/404/files

The proposed budget is a balanced budget and maintains a fund balance of approximately 24% of total expenditures, this preserves the City’s bond rating.

Members of the Livonia Public School Board attended the meeting to advocate for the district’s interest in renegotiating the tax administration fee agreement that has been in place since 1994. This issue was referred to committee.

Livonia has 631 full-time/part-time employees. This is a 14% decline since 2001.

Although revenue was up over $4.4M, new and increased expenditures resulted in a tight budget that significantly cut down on the capital improvement budget by $500,000. The following items total approximately $3.3M:

• City’s employee benefit related costs increased substantially, largely due to the defined pension plan for police and fire.
• Election Budget increased by $205,000 as a result of new state election laws (costs related to these changes will be reimbursed by the state for the February 2024 primary).
• $200,000 increase to the Court Building Fund (this is the result of changes in state law that have resulted in lower surcharges)
• $368,000 police budget increase for in-car and bodycam video software and hardware

As a result of property rates declining below the 1994 base year value, the Plymouth Road Development Authority is only expected to generate about $795,000 that will be used for corridor improvements, streetlighing and irrigation costs.

Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has approved 5 projects that are estimated to be reimbursed $1,170,000 for eligible costs in 2024.

Livonia’s budget is slightly unique because it has many special revenue funds that restrict the use of dollars to specific areas. There are 21 Special Revenue Funds. A few of note are Roads, Community Recreation, Refuse, Library and Community Transit. Items of note in this area:

• A RFP for a long-term contract for Refuse will be issued in 2024 to be in effect for 2025.
• A costly landfill remediation project will need to be addressed in the next year or two
• Livonia continues to receive money from the Opioid Settlement Fund, this fund is used for the social worker at the LPD and courthouse
• Kirksey Recreation Center has a goal of 13,500 members for sustainability, currently there are 14,300 members.
• The golf courses operate at break-even levels
• Major Road Projects for 2024 include Inkster from Joy to West Chicago and West Chicago from Harrison to Inkster

The New Livonia Senior Wellness Center project is nearly funded. It is projected to cost $21.5 to $22M. To date the City has contributed $4M and federal, state and county sources are expected to contribute $15.5M. There are additional opportunities from the state and federal level for the final $2M

Shared below are graphs of the city’s property tax revenue, general fund revenue and general fund expenditures.

The proposed budget will have a Public Hearing on October 4th at 7pm. It will then be voted on by City Council at the October 16th meeting.