UPDATED 4/6/24
Mayor Malik introduced his first operating budget totaling $815 million for fiscal year 2024. The proposed budget represents a 1.5% overall increase over Mayor Horrigan's final budget. City Council's Budget and Finance Committee, of which I am a member, held public hearings all this week allowing each and every department to present their goals and objectives for the coming year. If you're interested, you can view those hearings via City Council's YouTube page HERE.
Mayor Malik's administration highlighted several aspects of his budget, including:
- Budgeting for 488 uniformed police officers - the highest levels in 20 years
- Budgeting for 402 uniformed firefighter/EMS officers - the highest levels in 30 years
- $500,000 to support the new out-of-school-time effort for Akron's youth
- $750,000 to launch a new program supporting Black-owned small businesses
- $250,000 to support the city's bicentennial efforts in 2025
You can read the administration's full executive summary HERE.
While there are several items to get excited about in Mayor Malik's 2024 budget, including his support of police/fire/EMS, there are several concerning trends worth noting.
Largest Cabinet/Mayor's Office Budget in Akron History
Mayor Malik has proposed a 23-member cabinet costing Akron taxpayers over $3,500,000 annually. This is the largest cabinet and mayor's office budget in Akron history. Given this fact, I asked the administration to justify the expense. The response thus far is that we should all view this not as an expense but as an "investment in Akron's future." As I explained to Signal Akron, if other departments providing direct service to Akronites (Neighborhood Assistance, Parks Maintanence, Zoning, Housing, Parks & Rec) were staffed appropriately, I could understand this logic, but the fact is they are understaffed. Such departments continue to see increased demand for their services on flat budgets. Reasonable people can come to different conclusions about this proposed expense, which I respect, but I feel strongly residents need to know so that each individual can come to their own conclusion.
Using ARPA to Plug Budget Gap
State of Ohio law requires municipalities like Akron to balance their budget each and every year. Unlike the federal government, who can engage in deficit spending, Akron cannot. Since the Great Recession, our city government has struggled to achieve this mandate. During my time serving Mayor Horrigan, even our best efforts to curb spending could not keep us from having to be creative each year to balance the budget. Including, but not limited to, utilizing the cash reserves in the General Fund which were already dangerously low when Mayor Horrigan took office. (The General Fund is the budget comprised of local tax dollars)
Covid relief funds, such as ARPA, helped dramatically. Mayor Horrigan (correctly in my opinion) utilized ARPA funding as much as possible to cover allowable expenses within the General Fund. This enabled the city to save locally-controlled tax dollars and build up the cash reserves to their highest levels since 2008 ($28 million or approximately two months of operations).
Mayor Malik's budget continues this practice of using ARPA as much as possible to balance the budget and protect cash reserves, proposing $10 million of ARPA for this purpose in 2024. My concern, is that ARPA funds are soon coming to an end. I asked the city's finance team how we will cover future gaps in the General Fund once ARPA is no longer an option? The response has been through a combination of dramatic increases in property taxes (which we are all feeling), paired with slow-but-steady growth of income tax revenue. Only time will tell us if this assumption is true.
In the meantime, city spending is growing...everything is getting more expensive...and real wages for Akronites are struggling to keep up. It's worth keeping our eye on this trend in the months and years to come.
Mayor Malik is hosting a public forum to discuss his proposed budget at Firestone CLC, March 20, 6pm-8pm.
UPDATE
City Council unanimously passed an amended operating budget for 2024 on March 25. Through negotiations between Council leadership and Mayor Malik's administration, we came to an agreement to move some of the resources Mayor Malik intended for his office to other departments of the city engaged in providing direct services to residents. In total, $550,000 was reallocated from the mayor's office to the following:
- $90,000 for a grant writer in Akron Municipal Court's new Housing Court
- $10,000 for a "baby surrender box" program at a local hospital
- $100,000 to Police overtime to support vice programs (nuisance bars, illegal gambling, prostitution, etc.)
- $50,000 additional to City Council's Neighborhood Partnership Grant program (direct grants to neighborhood-level nonprofits)
- $300,000 additional to Dept. of Neighborhood Assistance for animal control, housing code violations, and nuisance code violations.
This was a healthy process of give-and-take between council and the administration. My hope is for dialogue to continue and improve ahead of 2025's budget season.