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PHOENIX — Voters in Phoenix on Tuesday approved Proposition 104, a multi-billion dollar plan outlining future road improvements, as well as the expansion of the city’s light rail.

The proposition, debatably one of the most talked about on this election’s ballot, will create a .07 percent tax over the next 35 years to fund a $31 billion plan to add 42 miles to the Valley’s inter-city light rail system.

While Valley residents are expected to benefit from the passing of Proposition 104, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said the proposal will also lead to an expanded number of city police officers.

At a Prop 104 victory party Wednesday, Stanton told supporters that the Phoenix City Council had pledged that if the proposition passed, money in the city’s general fund that had been earmarked for transportation would be used for law enforcement.

“$16 million (in the general fund) currently goes to subsidize transportation,” he said. “We don’t need to do that anymore, so we’re going to take that $16 million and use it to hire more police officers.”

That money will be used to hire 125 more police officers, which is in addition to the 300 officers that will be hired using money from the city’s public safety fund.

“So we’re going to be hiring 425 officers over the next three years,” Stanton said. “That’s the biggest hiring boom in the history of the Phoenix Police Department.”

This announcement comes after a 6-year hiring freeze for the police department. Stanton said after the mass hirings, Phoenix will have 2,100 police officers and “a lot of depth” on its police force.

Stanton said that the hiring of police officers has been passed by the city council on a preliminary vote, but it’s still awaiting final approval.

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