Here are the biggest winners in this year’s $218M budget in Merced

The Merced City Council adopted a $218 million budget this week that hires about two dozen new employees, according to records.

The council unanimously adopted the budget, which includes about $41 million in the general fund.

Here are the biggest winners out of this year’s budget:

Public Works

The Public Works Department is adding most of the new positions (nine), because the city continues to take on new waste and water customers, according to city leaders. The new positions cover an array of services from sewer workers to a mechanic to work on the city’s fleet of vehicles.

New director

With the adoption on Monday, the council approved a new legislative director position.

As a lobbyist for the city, the employee would advocate in Sacramento and Washington D.C. to pull down state and federal funding, according to Stephanie Dietz, the assistant city manager. The job pays $103,000 to $125,000 a year to an employee expected to bring in $2 million in additional funding a year.

Public safety

The budget will also move one police officer and one firefighter from Measure C funding to the general fund. The half-cent sales tax for public safety jobs has paid for 23 officers and 14 firefighters since its approval in 2006.

The Fire Department will get additional funding for training, and is expected to add a fire marshal.

City leaders also approved the expansion of the swimming season at McNamara Park, which will run Tuesday through Sunday every week from 3 to 6 p.m.

This story was originally published June 20, 2017 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Here are the biggest winners in this year’s $218M budget in Merced."