CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — City Manager Peter Zanoni recently introduced the City's proposed budget for 2023.
A portion of that budget will go to the City's first responders who are poised to benefit in many ways.
With Corpus Christi Police and Fire Departments expanding, CCPD plans to add 25 new police officers, while CCFD also has 24 open positions across the department.
Leaders of both departments said the new funding will help first responders better serve the community.
"We'll be adding another medic unit, giving the Corpus Christi Fire Department 14 medic units throughout the city which will give us some great coverage, and help us out with response times," said CCFD Fire Chief Robert Rocha.
While CCFD is in no short supply of firefighters, they're always looking for more help. The City's billion-dollar budget for 2023 is set to help the department reach a new and faster standard for response.
Rocha said that means adding one more man to each fire crew to make sure each firefighter has the proper backup.
"With the proposal that the city manager presented to the mayor and city council, this will put the fire department on good track to have four-person staffing. Increases firefighter safety, making it better for us to do our job," Rocha said.
According to Rocha, the four-person model is standard across the state. The budget will also allow the fire department to add two 75-foot ladder trucks and move older vehicles into their reserves. As for CCPD, Chief Michael Markle said more funding means more officers to meet the community's public safety needs.
"We'll have more officers, you know, our call load is increasing over the years as it should with a growing city," Markle said. "So, those officers won't be handling often as they do now calls alone when they should have backup available to them."
The new additions will bring the total officer count to 491. Markle said new recruits along with better vehicles will keep officers safer in the field. This comes as Markle estimates call volumes increased 20% in the last six to seven years. He said CCPD receives about 500,000 calls a year.
"It's good that we're going to be able to be in the neighborhoods more. Most of those will be in patrol, so you're going to see them in uniform in cars in your neighborhood patrolling. That's a great thing," Markle said.
CCPD plans to use some of the funding in the budget for construction of its new police academy complex on Del Mar College's Oso Creek Campus. Meanwhile, CCFD will use its new funding to replace Fire Station #3 on Morgan Avenue.
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