March 4 and March 6 2025 Operating Budget Hearings

Covered by Documenter Carol Smith (see her notes here) (and here)

Akron Mayor Shammas Malik presented his proposed 2025 operating budget at a series of meetings before City Council. 

This year’s projected expenditure of $798 million, a 2% decrease from the previous year, focuses on prioritizing four things, Malik said, with public safety at the top of the list. The other three areas are:

  • Core city services, which includes staffing costs for nearly 2,000 employees and selling a fleet of aging trash trucks and moving to a lease program. 
  • Targeted investments including $73,000 for a hospital-based violence intervention coordinator. 
  • Fiscal responsibility in the face of challenges such as an ongoing federal consent decree, loss of American Rescue Plan Act funding, and uncertainty around other federal funding

The operating budget contains the city’s normal expenses and revenues associated with provision of services for facilities and personnel. The budget process begins with city departments and City Council members submitting funding requests and public engagement received at council ward meetings.  

Public safety personnel presented statistics and information about highlights from their departments as well as areas that need to be improved. 

Here is some of the information they shared. 

Dispatch and communication

  • In 2024, dispatchers answered more than 343,000 calls, or nearly 1,000 per day. Half of those calls were 911-related, maintaining strict call-answer time standards, which is the time within which emergency services are required to answer calls, typically 15 to 60 seconds. 
  • In 2024, the department saw a 4% increase in calls for service. 
  • The dispatch center took over the University of Akron’s dispatching, strengthening their partnership. 
  • Compliance with Pro QA medical protocols improved by 40%. Pro QA is software designed to guide dispatchers through a series of questions to gather vital information about a person and their emergency situation. 
  • Text-to-911 capabilities were introduced. This service allows SMS messages to be sent to operators in an emergency situation. 
  • Shooting-related calls dropped 30%.
  • In May, an AI call-answering technology will roll out in the communication center. This technology will handle non-emergency calls, allowing technicians to focus on emergency calls. This will help improve efficiency. Examples of non-emergencies are vandalism, abandoned cars, past incidents, suspicious activity, etc. 

Training programs/recruitment in the Dispatch Center

  • The department saw successful recruitment and training of 10 new technicians, improving staffing levels. 
  • There is a focus on filling six vacancies. 
  • Officials credited a 26% salary increase as the reason the facility is at full staffing in 2025, unlike 2024, which began with significant vacancies. 
  • A retention workgroup will address workplace concerns. 

Community engagement 

  • The department saw a 221% increase in non-enforcement community engagements. The presenters said this contributed to a reduction in crime, along with support from technologies such as drones and the Flock camera system, a technology that captures license plate and vehicle characteristics.
  • Community engagement grew with the department attending 574 events and expanding its partnership with schools and mental health clinicians. 
  • The online community calendar and the Park, Walk and Talk initiative, a policing program designed to build relationships with community members, assists officers with engaging more purposefully with the community. 
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Other statistics

  • There has been a 17% decrease in shooting offenses.
  • Overdose death rates dropped by 42%, aided by NARCAN.
  • APD acheived a 68% homicide solve rate.
  • They recovered more than 1,000 illegal guns. 
  • The Akron Police Department currently has a class of 28 recruits going through the academy. Another class of equal size will begin toward the end of the year. 

City Council must pass the operating budget by March 31, but it is expected to vote on March 24. 

Council and committee streams its meetings on YouTube here. 

See Documenter Carol Smith’s notes here:

Akron City Council – 2025 Akron Operational Budget Hearing 03_04_2025Download
Akron City Council – 2025 Akron Operational Budget Hearing 03_06_2025Download

Akron Documenters trains and pays residents to document local government meetings with notes and live-tweet threads. We then make those meeting summaries available as a new public record.