As part of our responsibility, City Council analyzes and approves Akron’s annual operating budget for the coming year. This year‘s proposed $798 million operating budget was reviewed in hearings from individual departments on March 11-13. As a member of council‘s budget and finance committee, I attended all hearings and we are still deciding on the final budget. Mayor Malik’s main priorities are; Public Safety, Continuing to deliver core city services, Investment in programs around gun, violence, youth, opportunity, education, and Fiscal responsibility.
An important role with public safety are the staffing level levels of 488 police officers, 400 firefighters/medics and filling a roll to manage public safety in the Mayor’s office. 71% of our budget is for the City’s roughly 2,000 workers, with plans to lease 26 new sanitation trucks and selling the older trucks to save on maintenance. Council has heard from all departments in detail, and questioned those who were adding or losing staff and other departmental purchases. I applaud the Mayor and his staff for presenting the Budget publicly to show transparency and for input from our community.
It is important as your representatives, Council are good stewards of your tax dollars and make sure they’re spent wisely. We will review the budget again and hope to pass it by the end of this month. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out by phone or email.