Dozens of new cops will be hired, nearly every pool in the city will be opened this summer and one fewer fire rig will be placed on rotating "brownout" under a spending plan approved tonight by the City Council.
The council voted 8-0 to approve how to spend the first $5 million in funds generated by Measure U, a half percentage point increase in the city sales tax approved by voters in November.
The $5 million covers the sales tax revenue through the end of the current fiscal year. The increase, which starts April 1, is expected to generate $27 million a year for the city.
As a result of the Measure U funding, the city will open up its Police Academy in July for the first time since 2008. That academy class should place between 40 and 50 officers on the street by the end of the year.
The spending plan will also end one of three rotating closures of fire rigs in the city and protect the jobs of firefighters whose positions would have been lost with the upcoming expiration of a federal grant.
In addition, nine city pools will be opened full-time this summer: Pannell Center, Clunie, Tahoe, Southside, Glenn Hall, Doyle, George Sim, Johnston and McClatchy. The Oki and Mangan pools will be opened half-time.
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