Mayor Malik amends budget proposal following feedback from City Council, Akron residents

Following input from City Council and residents about Akron's proposed $815 million operating budget, Mayor Shammas Malik announced on Friday that he's reducing funding for the mayor's office by $293,762.

The city's overall spending, however, will remain the same under the administration's revised budget plan.

Malik said he's confident that the amended budget will pass when City Council votes on it at its March 25 meeting.

"My goal is to pass 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," City Council President and Ward 3 representative Margo Sommerville said in a news release Friday announcing the changes. "With this amendment, I believe we have a strong operating budget for 2024. I want to thank Mayor Malik for working with City Council and our residents on a budget that we can all agree on.”

Three unfilled positions in the mayor's office — data transparency strategist, public engagement strategist and environmental policy specialist — have been cut, eliminating $243,762 from the mayor's office budget, paring it down from $3.5 million to $3.25 million.

Malik said that he's axing these roles because his administration is currently handling public engagement without a public engagement strategist and sharing data and information without a data transparency strategist.

The environmental specialist role can be supplanted by the team paid for by the Bloomberg Sustainable Cities grant Akron was awarded, he said.

"It's not that we're backing away from these roles forever," Malik said. "We're still going to look for grant funding for these roles for this year, and then look at future years and continue to share with council my vision for where we can go with the city government. But at the same time, understanding the concerns that were raised, we felt this was an appropriate compromise to make."

Additionally, $50,000 was cut from the mayor's office service contracts, $125,000 from the finance contract for the demolition of The Word Church, and $131,238 from the finance for general fund property taxes.

The administration also added several things to the budget, totaling $550,000, resulting in no net change to the proposed budget's overall cost.

The additions include $100,000 for police overtime to deal with vice issues, $90,000 for a grant writer for Municipal Court and $100,000 for another inspector for Akron's Housing Compliance department.

Council expected to vote on the appropriation ordinance at its next meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

Council raises concerns about spending increase for mayor's office

Ward 8 City Councilman James Hardy raised concerns about the mayor's budget on the first day of last week's hearings on the city's new $815 million operating budget, asking, "When I get the inevitable phone call from a constituent asking me what are they getting for that significant increase in mayor's office budget and staff, what should I tell them?"

At Monday's City Council meeting, Ward 7 Councilman Donnie Kammer said he wasn't sure he could support the budget and asked the mayor to consider his and others' concerns. He said that Akron needs a vice unit to investigate "illegal businesses, and these nuisance bars and gambling places."

Sommerville suggested spreading out the process of staffing his office instead of doing it all at once, saying she was concerned about about the budget's inequitable distribution of funds across all city departments.

Akron operating budget proposal up 1.2% from 2023

The original budget proposal marked a 59% increase in spending for the mayor's office compared to last year, primarily due to the addition of some new roles and the relocation of others.

Finance Director Steve Fricker had said the net cost for new positions in the mayor's office was roughly $750,000, which amounted to less than 1% of the budget.

The proposed overall city operating budget for this year represents a 1.2% increase from last year's operating budget.

Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com or 330-541-9413

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron mayor cuts office budget after council, residents raise concerns