Akron plans to spend $785 million in operating expenses this year 鈥� nearly $14 million less than last year.
The reduction is due, in part, to raises negotiated in collective bargaining agreements with police, fire and other city employees last year, Mayor Shammas Malik said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 forced a lot of hard decisions,鈥� Malik said. 鈥淣ot that there aren't always hard decisions; I just think that they鈥檙e getting harder. We鈥檙e trying to really control costs across the board, aggressively. I think labor is the biggest piece of that.鈥�
In 2025, the city approved 5% raises for police, fire and Civil Service Personnel Association employees. The raises will decrease to 4.5% in 2026 and 2027. Non-bargaining employees received a 3.5% increase last year and will receive 2.5% in 2026.
At the time of the negotiations, Malik and Finance Director Steve Fricker cautioned that the proposed wage increases would force cuts in other city departments. The city drew $10 million from its income tax reserves to help offset the increases, Fricker said.
Additionally, the city drew from its American Rescue Plan Act allocation in previous budgets, but all ARPA expenditures had to be allocated by last year, and will be paid out by the end of 2026.
But Malik is optimistic overall about the city鈥檚 finances this year, he said, due to several facets of projected economic growth: increased revenue from property and income taxes, as well as an estimated $1.75 million in sales tax revenue from adult-use cannabis sales.
The state legislature passed legislation allocating the revenue to municipalities this year, Malik said.
鈥淭his is something I brought up with the governor, with legislators, and really appreciate that they've kind of maintained the spirit of the constitutional amendment,鈥� Malik said.
The city has also proposed targeted approaches to cut back on spending: cutting overtime spending for police and fire, reducing about 35 staff positions through attrition and reconsidering the hiring of future open positions.
The city also cut spending last year, citing several uncertainties when proposing the 2025 budget. This year, officials feel better prepared, Malik said.
鈥淲e have, really have spent the last year, since that last budget and since the labor negotiations, continuing to think about all of these pieces,鈥� Malik said. 鈥淚t has raised questions that always have deserved to be answered.鈥�
To save additional labor costs, officials are also planning a new strategy of 鈥渕ission-critical hiring,鈥� Malik said.
In the past, open positions were posted immediately, but that's going to change.
鈥淲e are really going to ask our department directors to really give us the business case for this role, and so this will help us control, through attrition, whether a role is needed,鈥� Malik said.
This new approach will not apply to sworn police officers and firefighters, he said.
Another cost-saving measure is cutting back on overtime, he said.
The city has already reduced daily overtime fire department shifts from ten to three, which resulted in $90,000 in savings in two weeks, Malik said.
City officials will continue to monitor this strategy to make sure call response times are not impacted, he said.
鈥淲e want to make sure that that call response does not suffer, but also, you know, where we're at with overtime is unsustainable,鈥� Malik said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very open to working with the union to find, you know, adjustments. We recognize that there are specific times when the need for resources is much greater than others.鈥�
Malik and Fricker also highlighted proposed strategies for revenue growth, including bringing back speed cameras in school zones, a program which has been dormant since 2020, Malik said.
鈥淲e're able to kind of, you know, save some things that were critical, you know, by using some of these other funding sources in order to put them in the budget this year, and I think the photospeed camera is a particularly salient example,鈥� Malik added. 鈥淭his is worth doing both for the priority of the safety but also because, you know, the revenue is important as well.鈥�
The city plans to put out a request for proposals for a camera vendor and start the program back up in the fall.
Another new investment is $250,000 to support emergency services for homeless outreach.
Shelters in the city have reached capacity as homelessness continues to rise, Malik said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen churches step up and open temporary shelters; we want to create a really easy system for folks to be able to provide support to people when it is literally unsafe to be outside,鈥� Malik said.
Other proposed expenditures include $500,000 to implement recommendations from the police department鈥檚 ongoing use-of-force policy review. There's also a proposed $250,000 expansion of a street team pilot program to prevent gun violence and a $500,000 investment in the city's Youth Success Summit.
Malik presented the proposed budget to Akron City Council Monday. Council members will give feedback and ask questions during budget hearings March 16-18.
Council must approve the budget by March 31.
