Akron Mayor Shammas Malik is introducing his administration’s $341 million 2026 capital budget to city council on Monday. The budget includes improvements to roads, facilities and water and sewer infrastructure.
It also proposes funding for the development and implementation of a “patrol long gun program” for the Akron Police Department.
The department's policy has been a concern for some in the community since an officer used his personal long gun to fatally shoot 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker in November 2024. A grand jury declined to indict the officer on any charges last year.
“One of the things we're going to be working on is moving away from officers being able to carry their personal long guns,” Malik said. “I do understand the perception that exists from an officer carrying a personal weapon, and I think that all things being equal – this is a direction we want to move in.”
Malik wants to streamline the process so the department both decides and provides the specific guns that can be used, rather than leaving it to an officer’s discretion.
“In most other cases, with handguns, with all the other equipment, the equipment's issued, right?” Malik added. "[The current policy] creates the whole administrability of the whole current system of tracking [what’s] disqualified, and what's qualified and what's permitted and what's not permitted. If you just say, ‘This is the long gun that the department's going to use and, you know, and here's how it can be issued,’ then it's pretty straightforward.”
The administration has budgeted $255,000 to develop and implement the new program, in addition to replacing body armor and other gear.
Resurfacing, water infrastructure top priorities in 2026 budget
This year’s budget is nearly $40 million less than last year’s $368 million budget, in part because federal pandemic relief funds – the American Rescue Plan Act – ended last year, Malik said.
The city is prioritizing resurfacing and infrastructure improvements, while trying to save money for the future, Malik added.
“The main goals are to make meaningful impact in each of those categories, to really focus on the police station renovation, which is kind of a long-term goal, and then to really do this in a fiscally responsible way,” Malik said. “Basically, trying to continue to try to right-size this budget and, you know, be realistic about what we can do.”
Water and sewer infrastructure make up 58% of the budget. That’s partly because the city is completing ongoing projects mandated by a federal consent decree issued to improve the city’s sewer infrastructure and overall water quality.
City officials are celebrating the recent replacement of all lead service lines, Planning Director Kyle Julien said.
“Here's an area where the city of Akron is really way out in front,” Julien said. “There are cities that have similar problems with their aging infrastructure that are just getting around to measuring or counting how many lead surface lines they have, and we're done.”
The city is currently budgeting $15 million for an enhanced-rate treatment facility, the final project of the consent decree. However, city officials are currently in mediation in federal appeals court to try to get that project scrapped, saying it’s too costly for the city’s ratepayers and is ultimately not needed.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency recently reviewed the city's analysis and proposed a change to controls the city must maintain related to wet weather, officials announced last week.
Overall, the treatment facility has an estimated cost of $265 million, which would be funded primarily by taxpayers, officials said.
The city is planning for major resurfacing and sidewalk improvements this year, Malik added.
The budget allocates $6.5 million for resurfacing 52 miles of Akron roads, as well as major improvements to Home Avenue, North Main Street in North Hill and South Main Street between Bartges Street and Cedar Street on the south side of Downtown.
The city will also spend $1 million to catch up on sidewalk improvement requests, officials said.
“The annual resurfacing program is, of course, a big piece of our maintenance work,” Julien said. “It's to make sure that we're continually investing in our streets so that we're staying on top of that and keeping the streets in good quality.”
Another big project is the renovation of the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center, the police headquarters, Malik added.
The city has budgeted more than $4.2 million for HVAC and elevator replacements this year.
Akron moving forward with Innerbelt project – with or without federal funds
The city has allocated $500,000 for improvements to and beautification of the Innerbelt, a decommissioned highway that displaced many Black residents and businesses in the 1970s.
The Innerbelt Master Plan has been in the works for years but was set back in 2025 after a $10 million federal grant previously allocated for the project was put on hold by the Trump administration.
The city is going to move forward with some of the project, while continuing to advocate for the federal funds, Malik said.
“We check in every, if not weekly, every few weeks, and continue to advocate with U.S. Department of Transportation around that,” Malik said. “With that being said, that money was never going to, you know, make the Innerbelt Master Plan happen by itself, and so the money that we're putting towards it this year, I think, is a reasonable amount of money and I think you'll see tangible impacts from that.”
The mayor’s office will propose the project to city council in the coming weeks with more details coming in the spring, Malik added.
The mayor’s office will give presentations on the budget to city council on Monday and Jan. 12. A public hearing will be held at the end of the month.
Council must approve the budget by Feb. 15, according to the city’s charter.
