Chandler’s mayor and City Council will discuss the proposed 2017-2018 budget Thursday evening and public safety will be a large part of the price tag.
Total cost: $934.5 million. The budget proposes increases to public safety for pensions as well as capital projects.
Chandler is building a training facility that would be shared among the police and fire departments.
The city also wants to add a fire station and hire 12 new firefighters in southeast Chandler. Management services director Dawn Lang says call volumes have increased in that part of the city. “It’s not that they’re not being served," Lang said. "But it’s where we place our facilities to ensure that we have best practices on our response times.”
The spending comes at a time when Chandler is proposing a cut in property-tax rates that the city hopes will partially offset an increase in assessed property values.
Chandler is also planning on adding police officers for the first time in a decade.
The city will finalize its budget in June.
To hear an interview with Lang on The Show, click here.
