Victoria councillors are poised to approve a budget that includes hiring at least 34 new full-time city employees.
At the same time, council is pressuring Victoria Police Chief Del Manak to make budget cuts that he says will mean losing officers.
The city's proposed financial plan includes new employees in areas such as housing, bike-lane development, traffic calming, real estate, urban forest management, human resources, climate mitigation, parks, and citizen engagement.
City staff have yet to provide a cost breakdown for the additional workers, but have ballparked it at about $3.5-million.
Correction: This story initially reported the estimated cost for additional workers to be $35-million. In fact, it is $3.5-million.
