Manteca’s proposed spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 will add two additional police  officers.

If the City Council approves, it will bring the number of sworn officers to 77.

At the same time, a part-time animal services position that is part of the police department’s budget is proposed to be fulltime. That will allow more hours to be committed to placing dogs with rescue organizations and similar endeavors.

The police department budget request asked for five additional police officers plus an additional community service officer.

The two additional officers included in the proposed budget plus bumping the animal services officer to fulltime is one of 11 general fund positions that are proposed to be added.

The city is proposing creating 16 new positions once enterprise funds that rely on ratepayer revenue to cover are taken into account. The other positions are in  the wastewater, solid waste, water divisions plus a landscape and maintenance districts.

The City Council on Wednesday at noon is conducting a budget workshop for the proposed spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1.

The budget includes a $67.8 million general fund or day-to-day municipal services financed by unrestricted revenue such as property and sales taxes.

The general fund — with a projected $10,977 surplus —  marks the fourth time in the past five years the city has had a balanced budget.
There was a structured deficit of $2.3 million in the current fiscal year. That means the city had to dip into general fund reserves to cover expenses.

The previous three years had general fund  surpluses that ranged from $3 million to $4.7 million

Another $147.4 million are expenses related to restricted funds such as capital improvements, wastewater treatment, water, solid waste and such.

Overall, the city’s proposed spending plan for next fiscal year is $215.2 million.

The City Council meets at noon Wednesday at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin