Flint City Council Budget passes in narrow vote on day of deadline

FLINT, Michigan – The Flint City Council has voted in a narrow 5-4 vote to approve the Flint City budget. The decision comes after months of deliberation and scrutiny from council members.

Flint City Council held a final budget meeting on June 1, where the budget was passed in a narrow 5-4 vote. All members of the council were present at the meeting, and the evening began with a presentation from the City of Flint Chief Financial Officer, Phillip Moore.

Following Moore’s presentation and public comment, the council expressed concerns about the budget’s transparency and clarity. Much of the meeting was spent questioning Moore about line items and seeking reasons for changes to the budget.

Dennis Pfeiffer argued that there was insufficient research into the decisions to change budget line items and expressed that he believed the line items were increased seemingly at random, saying, “We’re essentially throwing darts at a dart board.”

Criticisms were shared among many members of the council. Judy Presley made the point that many of the increases are likely to cover service costs and pay city employees, which Moore agreed with.

Despite the city council’s criticisms of the budget, there was enough support among council members to pass it as presented. Dennis Pfeiffer ended the meeting demanding that Moore present the council with more financial clarity before the end of the week, shortly before the budget was passed.

In 2025, it took 10 days after the June 1 deadline for the city council to pass the budget, and over 500 city employees were placed on layoff notice due to the delay. Many in the community were pessimistic that the council would reach an agreement in a timely manner due to its history of conflict.

This meeting was the second attempt to host a hearing on next year’s operating budget, following a meeting on May 18 that was adjourned early due to a lack of quorum.

Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley submitted his budget to the city council on March 2. In the nearly 2 months that followed, the council hosted six budgetary hearings to question city department heads about plans and proposed spending.

Lack of transparency has consistently been an issue during these budget hearings. Over the course of the hearings, council members were continually frustrated by what they felt were less-than-adequate explanations for budgetary decisions.

This led members of the council to vote to subpoena the Mayor and to consistently scrutinize the current mayoral administration throughout the hearings. 

Copies of the proposed fiscal year 2027–2028 budget are available on the city’s website or at the City Clerk’s Office.