Proposed City Budget Adds Downtown Police Officers
More police officers would patrol Greenville’s downtown under the city’s proposed 2018-19 operating budget.
Police Chief Ken Miller had proposed in January the city create a special downtown “entertainment district unit,” which would patrol from Markley Street near Fluor Field in the West End to Beattie Street near the Hyatt from 3 p.m.-3 a.m. to coincide with downtown’s peak hours.
The proposed budget, unveiled by City Manager John Castile and members of the city’s Office of Budget and Management at the City Council’s committee of the whole meeting Tuesday, April 3, adds eight officers and two sergeants, half of Miller’s request.
The new police officers were one of the few new initiatives included in the proposed budget.
There were $7.3 million in new requests; less than $1 million could be funded, Castile said. “Many are worthy projects,” he said. “We’ll keep them on the list.”
Among the new items that got in were extra money for employee tuition reimbursement, replacement protective equipment for the fire department, more police body cameras, internally illuminated street signs, rubber speed humps, two new positions in the parking department, downtown restroom repairs, a new point-of-sale system for the zoo, an automated side-loader garbage truck, and money to pay for the city’s new comprehensive and downtown plans.