CLEVELAND, Ohio - Mayor Frank Jackson proposes in his 2018 budget to hire hundreds of people by March 31 under a streamlined process aimed at filling long-vacant positions.

Jackson, who presented his $1.7 billion budget proposal to City Council on Thursday morning, later told cleveland.com reporters and editors that the new process aims to resolve problems with filling vacant positions last year.

New hiring last year couldn't begin until April, after the annual budget was approved. But several key jobs, such as health workers and housing inspectors, remained unfilled through the year.

Jackson attributes that, in part, to city departments being unaccustomed to having the money to fill jobs immediately. The 2017 budget was the first to have additional revenue, about $93 million, from a voter-approved increase to the city income tax.

"It wasn't because anybody was doing anything wrong," Jackson said. "They were just stuck in the old way of doing things."

Jackson said he was told while campaigning last year for re-election that his administration needed to move more quickly to fill jobs and implement policy.

So, he told his interim chief of staff, Sharon Dumas, to come up with a plan to speed up hiring.

More than 700 jobs are in play in this budget proposal, but about 500 of those are positions with the police, fire and EMS departments. Many of those positions cannot be filled by March 31 because of training requirements.

For the remaining 200 or so jobs, Dumas has already met with the human resources workers and department bosses. The message delivered: Hire people now.

What about hiring for safety forces?

Police officers, firefighters and EMS workers take longer to hire because they must go through specialized training.

Jackson said Thursday that each department will pick up additional workers.

The largest increase will be in the police force, where the mayor hopes to increase the size of the force by 100 to 150 officers as quickly as possible.

That is made difficult by the fact that the department loses 60 to 80 officers a year to retirements and other departures.

The mayor's budget calls for holding five classes of police cadets, with the last two expected to graduate early in 2019.

Enrollment in those classes could be as high as 250 police cadets, although typically each class loses some students.

Two firefighter training classes are also planned. They are expected to provide enough graduates to cover attrition and keep the department's workforce stable, Jackson said.

Forty-three graduates of EMS training were recently added to that staff. Jackson expects an additional class will be trained this year.

The additional EMS workers will allow the city to put more ambulances on the street and reduce response times. The number of crews in the day would rise to 25, up from 18. Evening staffing would climb to 21 squads, up from 18.

How sound is the budget?

Cleveland's improving economy and the increase to the city's income tax that took effect in 2017 have provided enough revenue to stabilize the city's budget, Jackson said.

That means that the budget anticipates enough revenue coming in to pay for all 2018 expenses without having to rely on money carried over from the previous year.

General fund revenue - the revenue that pays for most city services - is expected to be nearly $623 million. Total spending for those services is projected at $622 million.

Revenues were strong enough in Jackson's 2017 budget that it did not rely on money carried over from the previous year. His 2018 proposed budget also does not. This is known as a "structured budget."

Prior to those years, Dumas said, the last time Cleveland had a structured budget was during the administration George Voinovich in the 1980s.

How will quality of services be monitored?

With the additional hiring and an expected enhancement of services, the mayor plans to ramp up a quality-control team in his administration.

That team, created last year, has been hiring staff and getting its footing. This year, though, the mayor wants to audit the efficiency of services from department to department.

The staff will look at data on how services are provided and evaluate if city offices are operating effectively. Managers in those offices may also request evaluations to improve efficiency.

Ultimately, the quality-control team will send its findings in reports to the chief of staff and the mayor.