Detroit is preparing for a significant shift as it heads toward its first mayoral election in over a decade. The central focus for most candidates is economic development, particularly job creation and tax reform. Nine contenders are competing in the August 5 primary, with the top two advancing to the November general election. A common pledge among them is to reduce property taxes, which are among the highest in the United States.
Mary Sheffield, currently the Detroit City Council President and a leading candidate, has emphasized the need for structural tax reform and equitable neighborhood development. Other prominent candidates, such as Saunteel Jenkins and Solomon Kinloch, have proposed initiatives like neighborhood master plans and commercial corridor districts aimed at revitalizing small businesses and expanding affordable housing.
Despite these ambitious plans, analysts caution that many proposals may face legislative hurdles in Lansing, where political gridlock between the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-led Senate has slowed progress. While lowering the city’s millage rate can be achieved through local approval, introducing alternative revenue sources would require state legislative backing.
Mayor Mike Duggan’s tenure saw major economic developments, including attracting automotive manufacturing plants from companies like Stellantis NV and General Motors Co., as well as Ford Motor Co.’s redevelopment of Michigan Central Depot. Under his leadership, Detroit’s payroll jobs increased from just over 210,000 in 2010 to approximately 235,000 in 2024. However, his Land Value Tax Plan, intended to reduce property taxes while penalizing vacant land, stalled in the state legislature.
Candidates have proposed various alternatives to offset potential revenue losses from tax cuts. Sheffield advocates for a surcharge on event tickets and parking fees, while Jenkins supports a 1-cent sales tax. Durhal proposes a “blight accountability tax” that would impose a 25-times millage rate on non-owner-occupied structures in commercial areas.
Revitalizing commercial corridors and expanding affordable housing remain key themes. Several candidates aim to replicate the Downtown Development Authority’s (DDA) powers at the neighborhood level, though experts like Wayne State University law professor John Mogk doubt such proposals will gain legislative approval. Nonetheless, initiatives like public-private partnerships and streamlined permitting processes could proceed without state intervention.
Kinloch emphasized the importance of continuing the “Pay as You Stay” legislation, which has prevented foreclosures for thousands of homeowners. Perkins proposed District Executive Boards to support small businesses across the city’s seven council districts, though he acknowledged the need for collaboration with state lawmakers.
While challenges remain, candidates remain optimistic about Detroit’s economic future. Sheffield stressed the importance of partnerships with unions, developers, and community groups to support existing residents and attract higher-paying jobs. Mogk noted that while the current tax system is flawed, the city’s discussions around long-term development and taxation represent a necessary and overdue shift.
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Can Detroit’s next mayor keep city’s economic momentum going? Challenges await
With Detroit poised to pick a new mayor for the first time in nearly 12 years, bringing employers and new jobs to the city will be a priority for whoever comes next and nearly all of the nine candidates running in the Aug. 5 primary is vowing to cut taxes and spark development.
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield, a frontrunner based on polling, vows to give neighborhoods “equal focus” said “structural” property tax reform will be at the forefront of her administration if she ‘s elected.
Other projected frontrunners, including Saunteel Jenkins and Solomon Kinloch, say they will boost or create new programs, such as neighborhood master plans or commercial corridor districts, to spark a revival of small businesses and add affordable housing.
All pledge to reduce property taxes in Detroit, which has one of the highest tax rates in the nation.
But turning many of the candidates ‘ goals into reality may be challenging, policy analysts said — especially if they require any kind of legislative approval in Lansing.
Essentially, all nine candidates running for mayor are campaigning on platforms to expand economic development throughout the city. The top two vote-getters in the Aug. 5 primary will move on to the November general election.
Successes, challenges under Duggan
During his years in office, Mayor Mike Duggan scored many high-profile economic victories. According to the Detroit Regional Chamber, he used a mix of tax breaks and assembling parcels of land to lure seven substantial automotive manufacturing plants, including Stellantis NV and General Motors Co., to the city.
He also used his position to help make Ford Motor Co. ‘s redevelopment of Michigan Central Depot a reality. Billionaire developer Dan Gilbert ‘s Bedrock, meanwhile, got millions in tax breaks to build Hudson ‘s Detroit downtown.
Detroit has added thousands of jobs under Duggan ‘s tenure. According to the latest Detroit economic outlook, Detroit had just over 210,000 payroll jobs in 2010 and around 235,000 jobs in 2024. The outlook is done for the city by the University of Michigan along with Michigan State University and Wayne State University.
Still, Duggan faced notable setbacks. When he unveiled an ambitious plan called the Land Value Tax Plan to slash property tax rates in the city while punishing those who sit on empty, decaying land, the legislation he needed to make the plan happen stalled in Lansing.
Whoever becomes Detroit ‘s next mayor will continue to face challenges if any proposals require changes by the Michigan Legislature.
The Legislature is deeply divided between the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-run Senate. Since Republicans won control of the state House in November, the state Legislature has passed only six bills in six months. Elections for governor and state Senate will take place in 2026.
That matters because virtually all Detroit mayoral candidates say they intend to lower city ‘s notoriously high property taxes. That would mean lowering the city ‘s millage rate. Lowering the millage rate needs approval only from City Council and the mayor.
But finding a replacement model — essentially a new tax to make up for the tens of millions of dollars, if not more — would need state legislative approval.
That ‘s where a deadlocked Lansing plays a role.
“The appetite for bipartisan support right now is not strong,” said Rachel Richards, fiscal policy and government relations director of the Michigan League for Public Policy, a Lansing nonprofit that focuses on poverty issues.
“It ‘s unfortunate that local governments have consistently been asked to do more with less,” she said. “These localities still have to provide vital services to their residents, and property taxes and (state) revenue sharing haven ‘t kept up with budgetary needs. They absolutely need the tools to raise sufficient revenues through diverse and equitable revenue streams.”
But Fred Durhal, a mayoral candidate who is currently on the Detroit City Council, said he ‘s seen gridlock in Lansing before, pointing to his experience as a state legislator. From 2015 to 2019, he served in the state House. He was elected to the Detroit City Council in 2021.
“We can get many of our ideas through the state Legislature because we ‘ve been there,” Durhal said. “We ‘ve fostered relationships prior to serving on city councils. We ‘ve had some discussions with a few legislators on our ideas.”
New taxes and incentives
Candidates tout a variety of ways to generate new tax revenue if property taxes were cut significantly. For the 2025-26 fiscal year, which began July 1, property taxes are expected to make up $174 million of the city ‘s estimated $3 billion overall budget.
Sheffield wants to tax ticket-buyers who attend sporting and entertainment events in Detroit. That could be achieved by adding a surcharge to ticket prices or fees from parking lots catering to live events.
Previous attempts to tax attendees from out of town or to impose surcharges have failed. One of the latest unsuccessful attempts was in 2018, when then-State Sen. Coleman Young II, who is now a Detroit City Councilman, introduced a “sporting entertainment tax act” that would have put a $3 surcharge on entertainment events at venues that had a capacity of 5,000 or more.
“Will there be enough political will in the state legislature to take it up again? I don ‘t know,” said Kevin Bain, a senior strategist at Public Sector Consultants, a Lansing policy and consulting group.
Bain pointed out that studies have shown previous entertainment tax proposals potentially gain the city tax revenue, but the total amount “is just a drop in the bucket compared to property tax revenues.”
Jenkins has called for a 1-cent sales tax in the city. Sheffield has expressed openness to a half-cent sales tax at recent mayoral forums.
Durhal, meanwhile, has championed a blight tax targeting speculators. Durhal ‘s “blight accountability tax” would charge 25 times the property tax millage for non-owner-occupied structures in commercial corridors and neighborhoods.
Incentives for small business, neighborhoods
Another recurring theme among the candidates running for mayor is finding new ways to spark neighborhood development by reviving commercial corridors citywide — many of which are struggling — as well as boosting affordable housing.
Expanding partnerships with private entities, from churches to foundations, to spark development is among the proposals. These are ideas that don ‘t need state legislative approval. Many candidates say they will boost or create new programs, such as neighborhood master plans, commercial corridor districts or district executive boards.
The challenging part is giving these neighborhood programs tax incentives and other powers similar to those held by the Downtown Development Authority. The DDA has the power within a certain geographical boundary to buy property and determine how that property gets developed. It also has the ability to “capture taxes,” or take a share of property taxes from properties that have been developed.
John Mogk, a Wayne State University law professor who closely follows Detroit policy and development, said many neighborhood projects already have access to some tax abatements. They are called brownfield tax credit developments, which are given to developers and property owners who seek to build anew on blighted properties.
Mogk doubts that new DDA-type entities for neighborhoods will get state Legislature approval.
“Big downtown projects can often show that the development benefits the region. I don ‘t think a neighborhood development can make that same argument.”
Nevertheless, the mayoral candidates remain optimistic they can achieve their goals.
Jenkins vows to usher in “an era of neighborhoods rising,” she said in an email. “We will plan for the future by creating a ‘Strategic Master Plan’ for each of the seven districts. After the plan is developed, we will provide targeted incentives for developers and businesses that align with the plan to help rebuild and strengthen our neighborhoods.”
Kinloch, meanwhile, said in an email that he “will work closely with the state legislature on issues such as reducing property taxes and renewing the ‘Pay as You Stay ‘ legislation that has kept 15,000 people from foreclosure on their homes in the last five years.”
Continuing to build relationships with Lansing is essential, but Kinloch said under his administration, progress won ‘t be determined solely by legislation in Lansing. Like other candidates, he plans to create more public-private partnerships, streamline permitting, and focus on adding more small businesses that won ‘t need state approval.
“Making sure small developers have the same opportunities as large developers is basic fairness that requires no change to state law,” he said. “But most of all, setting an agenda to invest in neighborhoods, not just downtown, is a matter of priority and vision, not legislation.”
Durhal pointed out that while he is advocating to expand the boundaries of the central business district through the Downtown Development Authority, it won ‘t need state legislative approval. Nor will his ideas to boost commercial corridors in neighborhoods. The changes that will need state legislative approval include adding more taxes on blighted and vacant properties.
Candidate Todd Perkins said his plan for “District Executive Boards” to boost small business in each of the city ‘s seven council districts and give tax abatements to neighborhood developments “may require collaboration with state lawmakers to align local and state policies.”
“But they are crucial for fostering a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Perkins said in an email. “We must rid the veneer of Detroit being ‘business-unfriendly. ‘”
Sheffield said many of her economic development plans “will require strong partnerships — with unions, developers, community groups and potentially with the state Legislature,” she said. “But with the right leadership and a shared vision, these goals are within reach.”
Generally, she aims to invest in “our existing residents with small business supports,” while luring new jobs that provide higher-paying wages. She touts stepping up partnerships with faith-based organizations and other community groups to increase neighborhood development.
Wayne State ‘s Mogk said, despite the challenges, the candidates are right to propose changing the city ‘s current tax system and citywide development plans.
“The city is talking about a long-range master plan,” he said. “There should be a long-range taxing plan that goes along with it, because the current system is broken, particularly as it relates to home ownership.”
laguilar@detroitnews.com