City Budget Amendment Responds to Residents’ Concerns

Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, chair of the Common Council’s Finance and Personnel Committee, has laid out a comprehensive amendment to the Mayor’s proposed 2025 City budget that seeks to address a variety of priorities and concerns felt by residents citywide.  “After weeks of deliberation and discussion with city departments and my colleagues, combined with hours of town hall meetings and citywide public hearings, we are responding to our constituents’ requests with this budget amendment,” said Alderwoman Dimitrijevic.

The proposed budget amendment includes $350,000 of additional funding for the popular Down Payment Assistance Program in the Department of City Development that provides grants to help pay for down payment and closing costs for homebuyers. Additionally, the amendment seeks to add funding support for enhancing local roadways in the form of $2,000,000 for the High Impact Paving Program, as well as $500,000 for the Multimodal Transportation Capital Account to support the installation of traffic-calming projects. Also included in the budget amendment is $100,000 for the Healthy Food Establishment Special Fund intended to reduce food deserts throughout the City. No funding was included in the Mayor’s proposed 2025 budget for this purpose.

“The Council has worked hard and invested wisely to strengthen the overall fiscal health of our city as we seek to be both socially and fiscally responsible,” said Alderwoman Dimitrijevic.

“This budget will include Sunday library hours, the re-opening of a firehouse and many core services maintained – all items important to residents. We want to thank the public for their input throughout the budget process, as many of the items included in this amendment address their pressing concerns. I look forward to discussing this amendment and others at Thursday’s committee meeting,” she continued.

The Finance and Personnel Committee will consider all proposed amendments to the 2025 City budget during its meeting at 9 a.m. on Thursday, October 31. The meeting will be streamed live on the City Channel (channel 25 on Spectrum Cable and channel 99 on AT&T U-Verse in the City of Milwaukee) and via streaming video on the city website at city.milwaukee.gov/Channel25.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.