Akron’s 2026 proposed operating budget is expected to be voted on at the March 30 Akron City Council meeting, since it must be passed by March 31.
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik proposed a $784.8 million operating budget for 2026 — that’s $13.8 million smaller than the budget that Akron City Council approved last year. It’s also $30.2 million smaller than the first budget the mayor pushed through shortly after coming into office two years ago.
Many open City of Akron jobs may not be filled as fast as they once were, if ever. The city may clamp down on overtime for firefighters and police officers. Akron drivers may again face automated traffic cameras and potentially costly speeding tickets.
The city is navigating lower-than-expected income tax revenue from last year, significantly higher police and firefighters’ wages and an end to the millions of dollars of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding intended to keep local governments afloat in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WATCH a discussion of the budget with Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, Finance Director Steve Fricker and Deputy Finance Director Mike Wheeler.
The operating budget was the topic of discussion during the March 23 meeting of Akron CIty Council’s Budget and Finance Committee, where council members questioned whether city services will be affected by the reductions.
Finance Director Steve Fricker told the committee the city is not anticipating cuts to service due to the staffing reductions that have been made in the city’s safety forces, but that they will monitor it throughout the year.
“If we are finding that there are cuts to service that need addressed, we will certainly look to do that and will keep council in the loop,” he said. “The [police] chief has a plan, through the deployment of staffing, to try to do it in such a way that there are not drops in service levels.”
City Council Member Jeff Fusco (at-large) said during recent budget hearings that 35 people were identified who — through attrition — are not going to return to the police department. He asked if that will impact its level of service.
Loss of ARPA, CARES Act funds discussed
He also requested an update on how much of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding was spent in each ward of Akron. In 2021, Congress enacted ARPA, with Akron receiving $145 in federal funds that the city’s website said “will be used to create a safer, healthier and more equitable Akron for generations to come.”
A summary from the finance department to council members in late 2025 detailed every ARPA-funded project in Akron and how it impacted its ward, said Deputy Finance Director Mike Wheeler.
He added that he will share information with the committee on local medical debt relief, which was funded using ARPA money, listed by ZIP code.
Council member Linda Omobien asked Fricker and Wheeler about cuts to overtime budgets, particularly for the city’s first responders and service departments. She requested quarterly reports updating council members on how those departments are managing overtime use.
“Without the CARES [Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security act] dollars and the ARPA dollars, we wouldn’t have been able to do any of this,” she said.
“And I applaud the administration for making these funds available to our staff so they could benefit from some of that.”
If the city had the funds, it could pay these employees “more and better, but we just don’t have the resources,” Omobien said.
The operating budget is expected to be discussed again at the committee’s March 30 meeting, which can be viewed live on City Council’s YouTube page.
Editor’s note: Signal Akron Government Reporter Doug Brown contributed reporting to this article.
