OAKLAND — Aside from the typical sniping between public officials at every Oakland meeting, it seems this City Council is basically in lockstep on its most important responsibility — the budget.

Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney’s budget proposal largely matched Mayor Libby Schaaf’s budget draft from several months earlier, which emphasized public safety, cutting debt and growing the city’s economy.

McElhaney even expanded on some of those goals, recommending the hiring of crime analysts and evidence technicians for the Oakland Police Department — two apiece — and the hiring of three tax enforcement officers to collect revenue from delinquents.

Monday’s special budget hearing was just a sneak preview — the council must pass its final budget next week before the June 30 deadline set by the state.

Expanding the embattled police force in the Bay Area’s most dangerous city was a priority for most of the council. Councilman Dan Kalb recommended adding the civilian police positions after learning some of the reasons behind the understaffed agency’s dismal record in solving robberies.

And police officials told Councilwoman Anne Campbell Washington that 19 of the last 25 robbery cases leading to criminal charges involved school-aged children, she said.

The city needs to expand its relationship with the Oakland Unified School District to solve systemic problems in the city, she said. That’s one of the reasons Campbell Washington supported Gibson McElhaney’s endorsement of another Kalb suggestions — to fund positions to reduce chronic absenteeism of students.

Through Schaaf’s initial budget and Gibson McElhaney’s tweaks, “we get to a more holistic look at public safety in the city of Oakland,” Campbell Washington said.

But, as Councilman Abel Guillen said, the council “can’t be all things to all people.”

Councilwoman Desley Brooks’ idea for a Department of Race and Equity was approved after receiving mixed support. The scaled-down version of her initial vision now calls for hiring a director and an analyst, Brooks said, which might not be enough manpower to adequately tackle one of the city’s most troubling topics.

Brooks said she wondered why parks in East Oakland, for example, had turned brown as the city started using less water, but the parks around downtown were green.

“We need to make sure we change the systemic racism that exists within our community,” she said. Her motion to create the department passed by consensus on Monday after she fought back criticism from Councilman Noel Gallo, who had his own topics to pitch.

Dozens of speakers on Monday pressed the council to adopt Gallo’s amendment funding legal support for children from Central America left in Oakland without their parents.

Several teenagers told the council their tales of fleeing the streets of Honduras and El Salvador. Many could be deported without legal aid from Centro Legal de la Raza, whose one-year, nearly $600,000 contract with the city is ending in November.

Councilman Noel Gallo asked the city to commit $800,000 to fund the organization’s efforts in the next two-year budget cycle. He also asked for $600,000 for housing and services for victims of human trafficking and prostitution.

Kathy Moehring, an advocate for the children, asked the council to put themselves in their shoes.

“Tell them, ‘You don’t deserve better than this,'” Moehring said.

Although the council tinkered with some small pieces, the broad strokes in Schaaf’s initial two-year, $2.4 billion budget proposal didn’t change much.

Her plan called for adding 40 police officers, bringing the department to 762 sworn officers within the next two years. The plan also expands the gun violence prevention program, Ceasefire.

Guillen said he hoped the budget improve the city’s hotly debated housing problem. The city needs more housing, but residents are demanding affordable housing — and $1.1 million for the city’s affordable housing fund was a good start, he said.

Both Guillen and Campbell Washington, who were backed in November’s elections by local unions, made sure to mention the city’s obligation to compensate city employees after years of cutbacks during the Great Recession.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to acknowledge their contributions in a monetary way,” Campbell Washington said.

Mike Blasky covers Oakland City Hall. Contact him at 510-208-6429. Follow him at Twitter.com/blasky.