Discuss San Antonio budget 2012 - the Redirect 17 Police Officers to Case Study

Discuss San Antonio budget 2012 - the Redirect 17 Police Officers to Neighborhood Patrol - Case Study Example Other significant city priorities include human services and neighborhood code enforcement. With rigid budgets stretching the San Antonio police force, the city has set aside money to redirect police officers to neighborhood patrol. Crime watch programs, which have been in existence for years, have been boosted by the increased number of law enforcement officers to help fight crime in communities and empower residents. The 17 newly redirected police officers will operate in partnership with the neighborhood patrol, which uses volunteers and other groups of civilians as a second set of eyes and street level resource. The 2012 budget, therefore, provides an opportunity for the residents of the city to achieve both community and individual prosperity by ensuring they are safe and free from harm. The city of San Antonio develops a balanced budget, each year, by covering only those expenditures with revenue for which the city has authority to levy. The efficiencies achieved from this fiscal budget allow the city to invest additional funds in various services meant to address the challenges facing the growing city. This way the city can allocate more funds to services like policing, come the next budgeting year. The funds allocated to city services and priorities in the 2012 budget are primarily supported by $289 million from City Public Service Energy payments, $199 million from local sales tax returns and $239 million from property tax revenue. 23% of the budget is financed by other sources. The main spending area is the police services which is allocated resources that amount to approximately $343 million. The amount includes expenditures such as contractual services, personal services, self insurance, commodities, capital outlay and transfers. Out of the 2,375 uniform positions, 67 are funded by the grant fund while 2,308 by the general fund. The grant fund also finances 12 of the civilian