(Click on the image for John McNamara's report)
- Improving public safety was another of Baker’s priorities from the start. The FY 2019 budget also supports five new recruitment classes of 25 police officers (125 total) to offset attrition and increase the number of sworn officers on the force. In Baker’s budget, another 60 officers will be added to the county’s Fire/EMS Department ranks.
- The newly-adopted spending plan also restores previous funding cuts to the Department of Public Works and Transportation budget to support road and sidewalk repair, improvement of county maintenance of medians, and trimming street trees. The department’s budget was increased 4.8 percent this year, to $13.6 million.