KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Kalamazoo’s City Manager has altered his 2023 proposed city budget to include money to improve child care for preschoolers at the request of commissioners, who say daycare is a major issue for working families.
Manager Jim Ritsema says he’s carved out $125,000 from available funding to plan how to best achieve that goal.
“We propose taking $60,000 that was ARPA funding, and then $65,000 from the General Fund,” said Ritsema who noted that this proposed action will get the planning process started.
Ritsema plans to work with the City’s Youth Development Subcommittee to come up with a strategy.
The Budget includes a record amount going into capital improvements, and Commissioner Chris Preadel says there are plans to make improvements city wide.
“And we heard in the presentation for the New Year that if you thought 2022 was potent, wait until you see 2023,” said Preadel.
Hannah Marcon with WMU’s Student Government thanked them for planned improvements along West Michigan Avenue, the site of a student death this past summer.
“We are really craving this need to have that road restructured and show the students and the rest of the city that we’re putting their safety first,” said Marcon.
Those items and some other minor changes will appear in the revised budget, which comes up for a final vote in two weeks.
Reporting by: John McNeill
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