Overview
- A City Council committee voted to delay Mayor Katie Wilson’s plan to start universal free breakfast and lunch this fall, approving an amendment that pushes the rollout to 2027 and redirects $3 million from the FEPP levy to a voucher program for weekends and school breaks.
- Sponsors Joy Hollingsworth and Dionne Foster propose the $3 million voucher program would serve up to 5,000 families over six years, while the mayor’s office estimates universal meals cost about $3.6 million per year and had tapped $7.7 million from the FEPP levy reserve to begin this fall.
- Hours after the committee vote, Hollingsworth, Foster and Dan Strauss announced a new plan to use the City’s general fund to pay for universal meals in 2026–27, a move the mayor criticized given a projected roughly $175 million general-fund shortfall.
- Council backers say the delay is driven by concern that long‑term funding depends on a state millionaires income tax that faces a November repeal measure and legal challenges, creating uncertainty about funding after the levy period.
- The dispute has split advocates and city officials, could change which children receive immediate aid, and now heads to a final Council FEPP vote on July 28 and a Finance committee review of the general‑fund proposal on August 4.