AKRON, Ohio — Akron City Council has approved the 2022 operating budget as city officials detail more than $772 million in investments.
So where is the money being spent? Here are highlights as outlined by the city of Akron:
- New class of Akron Police officers – approximately 24 new recruits
- New class of Akron Firefighter/medics - Akron Fire currently has a class of 20 new firefighter/medics who are set to graduate on May 3. They will have another class in Fall 2022 of approximately 20 more recruits
- Service hires - 2 new nuisance compliance inspectors, 3 new housing code compliance inspectors, 1 administrative assistant, 1 housing rehab specialist and 1 accounts analyst
- A 3.25% cost-of-living wage increase for 2022 for all City employees. Actual cost-of-living increases still yet to be determined for Police, Fire and CSPA bargaining units
- No increase in Water or Sewer service rates for the year
- Utilize $65 million in ARPA funding in 2022
- $10M in public utility support including $2M for Akron Cares, $2.5M for water main replacement program, and $3.7M for lead services replacement
- Over $16M for parks and public spaces including funding for upgrades to Ed Davis Community Center, Patterson Park Community Center, Reservoir Park Community Center, Reservoir Pool Reconstruction, Firestone Park Splashpad, Perkins Pool Reconstruction and more
- $5.25M for Small Business Growth initiatives including $3.5M for small business assistance, and $1M for downtown retail assistance
- $10.8M in Housing Initiatives including $3M for a housing rehabilitation program, $5M in new affordable housing projects, $400k in demolition of blighted properties and more
- $3.9M in violence prevention initiatives including $2.8M in violence intervention and prevention grants to local organizations and over $1M for camera programs
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“I want to thank all the Akron City Councilmembers who took their responsibility seriously to get this budget passed by the deadline set forth in our Akron City Charter,” said Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan. “Each year, approving the City’s budget is one of the most important and impactful actions taken for the benefit of our citizens. My goal each year is to develop a responsible budget that will support our City services—including public safety, road maintenance, water/sewer utilities, and many others—while keeping costs in line. This year, with the infusion of American Rescue Plan funding, we have a greater ability to fund these core services, bolster our employee numbers, and start to invest into our ARPA recovery buckets including violence prevention, housing, small business growth, parks and public spaces, and more."
Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in a previous Akron story on March 1, 2022.
