Akron Mayor Shammas Malik’s administration unveiled the city’s proposed operating budget on Monday, outlining $815 million in “investments” for 2024 with significant spending to staff the city’s police and fire departments to their largest levels in decades.
Akron City Council has until the end of the month to approve the proposed budget, which could still change prior to approval, and city officials are headed to council chambers this week to make their case. The $815 million is a 1.2% increase from last year’s budget, due to an increase in budgeted cops and firefighters and increased staffing in the mayor’s office, among other expenses.
“The biggest thing is public safety,” Malik told reporters on Friday. “I’ve talked about how public safety is a priority, so we’re prioritizing hiring classes for both police and fire in 2024.”
That means the Akron Police Department could have up to 488 uniformed police officers, which would be the most in more than 20 years, and the Akron Fire Department could have 402 firefighters and medics, which would be the most in 30 years.
The two departments make up a significant portion of the 2,055 budgeted full-time jobs with the city, up from 2,019 last year, with 69% of the general fund expenses going to labor costs.
The city plans to spend $61 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds in this budget, with $28.9 million of that going toward parks and public spaces. The city also plans to spend $7.5 million on both water main replacements and housing rehabilitation programs, supporting community development corporations. Another $2 million will be spent to remove lead pipes, and $1.2 million will go toward violence intervention.
The budget’s 1.2% increase from last year should be made up by a 2% increase in income tax and a 24% increase in property tax revenues, the city said.
Director of Finance Steve Fricker and Deputy Director Mike Wheeler broadly outlined the Malik administration’s proposed 2024 operating budget on Monday afternoon in front of City Council.
Click here for the budget overview document presented to council members, and watch their presentation here.
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, City Council will hear detailed presentations from different departments within the city. Each hearing will begin at 3 p.m. and will be livestreamed on Akron City Council’s YouTube page.
The city also released a schedule of the hearings with 175 pages of details about the budget.
