City Council rejects call to cut 10% from Lansing police budget, agrees to hire more social workers

Lansing State Journal

LANSING – The majority of the Lansing City Council rejected a proposal to cut the city's police budget by 10% although council members agreed they want to hire more social workers.

City Council members voted Monday on a list of priorities they want Mayor Andy Schor to consider as he crafts his budget recommendation for the next fiscal year.

Council will vote in May to approve or amend that recommendation. The new budget will take effect July 1.

Lansing police: Should council divest?

Council Member Brandon Betz suggested shaving $4.6 million from the police department's budget for operations and personnel and reallocating nearly $1.5 million to hiring social workers and to youth education and employment programs. The remaining money could be spent based on recommendations from a newly created Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Betz said.

But, five of eight council members voted down that suggestion, with only Betz, Kathie Dunbar and Brian Jackson voting in favor.

In the absence of a plan to "reimagine" public safety, Council President Peter Spadafore said he was concerned about having fewer officers on the streets responding to the same number of calls.

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"I want to make decisions based on making the police department better, making them more responsive and keeping them accountable," Council Member Patricia Spitzley said. "I am not interested (in cutting) just to cut. ... That is also going to result in less services and less safety for people who need safety."

Calls to "defund the police" have been growing after the death of George Floyd, a Black man asphyxiated by a white Minneapolis police officer. Some activists argue that, in light of racism and police brutality, it's not enough to merely reform policing without significant funding shifts.

The city's $46.5 million police budget is more than one-third of Lansing's general fund and about one-fifth of its total budget.

Council members did agree they want to set aside about $500,000 for four full-time social workers. One social worker has been working with the Lansing Police Department since 2019 to help residents with issues including homelessness and addiction. Council members suggested the additional social workers could work under the fire department after Betz and Dunbar made it clear they didn't want them embedded with the police.

"I will not vote for a budget priority that increases the police department," Betz said.

The council shelved a proposal to allocate $250,000 more for police training.

Council Member Brandon Betz appears in a file photo.

“Training does not dismantle white supremacy in police departments.," Betz said. "That is not transformative change."

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Other proposals: Legal aid for housing, cutting off LEAP

Council members voted unanimously in favor of creating several new city positions, including an attorney to help residents fight evictions and foreclosures and a grant writer to help neighborhood groups find funding.

And a majority of the council wants to ends the city's relationship with the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, an agency paid to do economic development on the city's behalf.

Instead, some council members want to use part of the $500,000 annual subsidy to LEAP to hire more in-house economic development employees. The rest of the money would go to analyzing and increasing funding for a program that gives façade improvement grants to local businesses.

Schor appoints new treasurer

It's not yet clear how the ongoing economic fallout of the COVID-19 outbreak will affect Lansing's upcoming budget. In May, the pandemic prompted council to cut nearly $13 million in programs and reserves from what Schor initially proposed as a $229 million spending plan.

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor has appointed Desiree Kirkland as Lansing's new treasurer.

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Desiree Kirkland, Lansing's newly appointed treasurer, will play a key role in collecting taxes and crafting next year's financial forecast. Kirkland will start work Sept. 28 with a $98,000 annual salary.

A deputy treasury has been leading the department on an interim basis since Schor appointed the previous treasurer, Judy Kehler, as chief strategy officer.

Kirkland's past roles include grant accountant with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, chief deputy treasurer for Ingham County and internal auditor for the Michigan Supreme Court.

Contact reporter Sarah Lehr at slehr@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahGLehr.