Mayor G.T. Bynum has presented his budget for the upcoming fiscal year. It still has to clear City Council approval, and there could be some changes, but overall it is a solid, optimistic proposal that addresses problems and offers new ideas.

Bynum proposes adding three police academies of 30 each, marking the largest one-year infusion of officers in the city’s history. The mayor also calls for adding 35 new firefighters as well as replacing fire equipment that is more than a decade old. That’s in step with the will of voters, as expressed clearly in last year’s Vision tax extension. In part, Bynum is a beneficiary of that tax vote, but many of the new police officers are funded with other tax revenue. It’s clear that when it comes to public safety, Mayor Bynum gets it.

The mayor also plans to give deserving city workers long-overdue pay raises, fund more mowing of public areas, build new playgrounds in parks and continue street construction and maintenance. His Public Inebriate Alternative is an exciting initiative that could free up police manpower, divert people arrested for public intoxication from the criminal process and encourage them into treatment. He also plans to start long-needed Sunday bus service and a program to get panhandlers off the street and into a work program.