With the healthiest financial outlook it’s enjoyed in years, the City of Kalamazoo might add staff with its next budget.
City departments would like to create 64 new positions in everything from policing to managing storm water. Other proposals for 2017 include outfitting Kalamazoo Public Safety officers with body cameras and improving lighting on the streets.
Some of the money to sustain new jobs will come from the approximately $70 million donation the city accepted earlier this fall. Kalamazoo hopes to follow that with a permanent endowment, the Foundation for Excellence. A few of the proposed new positions relate to the Foundation.
City Manager Jim Ritsema says a rosier budget means residents expect the quality of life in the city to improve, and that now is the time to start thinking about how to get there.
“We’re really looking at creating that high level of service for our citizenry that expects that level of service,” Ritsema says.
The city’s police department wants to hire several new officers. Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley says some of his employees have worked weeks in a row with no break to make up for short-staffing.
“We’ve got to get back to a point where we can avoid something of that nature because it has an impact on the employee individually, it has an impact on the organization and it certainly has an impact on the service we provide to the community,” Hadley says.
The city plans to gather public input on its proposed 2017 budget January 3. A final vote is expected January 16.