Mary Sheffield, the new mayor of Detroit, released her first budget proposal on March 9. The budget proposes $3 billion in spending, a 1% decrease from the previous fiscal year, and marks Detroit’s 13^th consecutive balanced budget. In addition to provisions that increase the minimum wage for city employees and increase spending on youth programs, the budget includes proposals that affect commercial real estate directly.

The budget includes a slight property tax cut, reducing debt millage from 4 mills to 3 mills. This translates to a reduction of $1 in tax per $1,000 of property value. Though the budget proposal frames this as tax relief for homeowners, it does not specify whether it only applies to residential property tax or to commercial property tax as well. Additionally, the budget proposal expands the Affordable Housing Development and Preservation Fund. Previously, Detroit put 40% of the proceeds from selling city-owned commercial property sales toward housing development and rehabilitation. Under the new budget proposal, 100% of such proceeds will be used for this purpose, meaning none will be reinvested into commercial infrastructure. Finally, the transportation operation budget for the Detroit Department of Transportation has been upped by $30 million, an increase of over 10%.

The March 9 presentation of the budget to City Council begins a month-long review process where they will have the opportunity to host hearings before final approval in April. If approved, the budget will take effect on July 1.