EAST BATON ROUGE- The Metro Council voted to approve Mayor Broome's city budget Tuesday night. Broome's proposal for 2023 increased by more than $45 million from the previous year.

"We have continued to exceed our expectations during 2022," Mayor Broome said.

The mayor told the Metro Council the city-parish is doing extremely well financially. Now, she wants to spread some of that wealth around to several departments.

"My administration continues to focus on cost efficient services, dealing with public safety, drainage, transportation, economic development and quality of life."

The approved 2023 budget is set at $1.8 billion. A major focus is drainage. She asked for an additional $500,000 for the Drainage and Transportation Department.

The mayor says the funds are needed for studies on drainage and traffic. 

"We will continue our efforts to work with the Metro Council and the community to improve our drainage and reduce flood risk for our many residents and businesses and to work toward a necessary environmental compliance plan."

The budget also includes $12 million for the fire department and $15 million for the police department.

"Public safety remains a top priority. Additional training academies for the police and fire departments will be held in 2023."

A small increase in the budget allows for hiring more police officers and fire fighters. 

READ the entire proposed budget here.