On Thursday, June 23, the Metro Council unanimously passed the
Operating and Capital Budgets for Fiscal Year 2016-2017. The Budget contains
expenditures of approximately $814 million, of which $108 million will be spent
on capital projects. The budget calls for Metro to have about 5,783 full and
part time employees and will spend approximately 60% of all funds towards
Public Safety.
This was my second budget season with the Metro Council and my first serving as vice chair of the Budget Committee. This year we set out to insure that the budget process was one of inclusion and transparency. I believe this budget is evidence that we achieved those goals. The needs of this community are great and at times it can be a difficult task to prioritize these needs, but I believe the result of this month long process is a budget that will invest in projects and proposals that will have a lasting impact for our community.
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Addressing the Public Safety Needs of Our Community
Members of the Metro Council discussed the plans for
deploying the 22 additional officers planned in the budget as well our desire to see the Police Chief investigate other policing tools such as
Shotspotter Technology (which immediately identifies gun fire and dispatches
police in those areas where the technology is deployed). The Mayor's goal is to see violent crime in
our city decreased by 3%. The council made it
clear that we are willing to assist in finding
solutions, but are looking for results in addressing
the nearly doubling of the murder rate in the past year.
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