The city of East Lansing is facing a $3.1 million deficit in its proposed budget for the next fiscal year.
City Manager Robert Belleman says the shortfall is partially due to increasing operational costs.
He also cites the loss of a 5% “franchise fee” charged by the Lansing Board of Water and Light that the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled was unconstitutional. He says that means the city is missing out on $1.6 million of expected revenue.
He says the city will have to make changes to avoid tapping into reserves.
“I will provide you a laundry list of options for either revenue or cost containment with some recommendations that council could adopt,” Belleman told City Council on Tuesday.
The East Lansing Police Department was one of the city agencies that presented its budget on Tuesday, including plans to hire an additional social worker to help people experiencing homelessness downtown.
Interim Chief Jen Brown says the department currently works with a third party to provide services to unhoused individuals, but its internal social workers can provide more personalized help.
“Our social workers have more training and more opportunity to follow up, to not only provide these individuals housing but also to assist in other manners, so, for example, to help them get jobs, help them get identification, help them get substance abuse treatment,” Brown said.
She says the most common charge unhoused individuals face when interacting with the police is trespassing.
While Brown called the unhoused population downtown “significant,” she said not all calls would end in an interaction because “there is nothing illegal about sleeping in public.”
A public hearing on the budget will be held May 13. The budget must be adopted by May 27.