Members of Rockford's Finance and Personnel Committee forwarded a budget plan to address a $5.3 million shortfall to the full city council.
The Rockford Register-Star reports the plan, which would increase spending on public safety, proposes spending $1.3 million from the general fund, $2.2 million from the sanitation fund, and $1.1 million of health fund reserves. Money from the plan would pay for gunfire detection systems, surveillance cameras, license plate readers, and six civilians employees to take non-emergency police reports.
The plan also proposes selling city land at Baxter and Lyford roads, putting a tax on movie tickets, and examining consolidation of animal services. The plan's proposals are meant to avoid a utility tax originally proposed by Mayor Larry Morrisey to fill the funding gap.