The Lansing City Council has voted in favor Thursday night for an amendment to the city's budget.
The council approved spending more than $1.3 million dollars in surplus cash the city accrued near the end of the fiscal year.
"The surplus came from the income tax largely from better returns," said Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero. "We didn't raise the income tax, so we're getting better returns on the existing rate."
In the proposal, $300,000 would be spent on IT security upgrades in the city's Department of Information Technology. $450,000 is aimed for street lighting and repairs to city facilities. For unexpected election expenses, the Lansing City Clerk office would receive $185,000. Lansing Police would receive $450,000 for the purchase of 10 new police cruisers and an ambulance for the Lansing Fire Department.
Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope tells Fox 47 News the unexpected election expenses stem from March primaries and school bond elections held in the Spring.
Bernero says a surplus is not uncommon, and a special meeting like Thursday night is required by law.
"The budget is approved back in May, but now we have better numbers on how we are closing out the end of the fiscal year because were coming close to the end of it," said Bernero.
For police officers on the street everyday, it's imperative they have a reliable patrol car on the job. Chief of Lansing Police Mike Yankowski says, he looks forward to adding new police vehicles into it's aging fleet.
"I was doing the inventory, a flat tire, a car wouldn't start," said Yankowski.
"Those are general themes of day to day maintenance that our mechanics at the city garage are spending an awful amount of time trying to fix cars that are really old," said Yankowski.
At Lansing's Department of Information Technology, Chief Information Officer Collin Boyce says the money earmarked for his department will go towards security upgrades and training for employees.
"Whats malware, Whats ransomware?" said Boyce. "Being able to answer those questions and have metric driven training with the entire organization is extremely important."
City council member Carol Wood criticized the amendment saying money should be spent on hiring more police staff.
Bernero says the money for hiring police officers is already available and that it's about a long term fix to the city's growing problems.
"You don't want to be in a situation where you're operating on a shoe string," said Bernero.
The budget amendment could have passed Monday night, but council members Tina Toughton and Adam Hussain were not present at the meeting.
Bernero says this type of thing happens in the summer.
