Lansing Mayor Andy Schor is vetoing several line items in the upcoming fiscal year budget sent to him by the City Council this week.
Mayor Andy Schorinitially proposed a nearly $164 million spending plan for the city’s general fund. That would have required tapping into the city’s rainy day fund by $2.7 million.
Earlier this week, city councilmembers went in a different direction and instead approved a budget that cut operational expenses in many city departments to save money.
Schor rejected some of that plan in a letter sent to the council Thursday. That includes the veto of a measure to fund a warming center during winter weather using $150,000 taken from the Mayor’s office.
“We're already working with Senator Anthony, on $800,000, for that warming center. So, I don't believe this is this is needed from my budget and what we're getting, potentially $800,000 from the state," he said.
Schor also vetoed a line item that would also have used money from his office to fund $59,000 in sidewalk and road repairs.
"That is such a small amount in terms of fixing a road and the sidewalk," he said. "The services through my office for those $59,000, I believe would be more helpful to the citizens."
In the letter, Schor also said he is redirecting $1.8 million towards departmental operations. The city council had not allocated that money in the budget it sent to Schor. He says those funds will help keep city departments running smoothly.
"A few of them probably will be good through the middle of the fiscal year, at which point we'll have to look and see if we have to add more dollars to those as well," he added.
On Monday, the Council is expected to either approve the budget as it stands now or override any of Schor’s vetoes. To do that, the council would need six out of eight votes.
