Hodges Wants To Hire More 911 Operators In Mpls.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The mayor of Minneapolis hopes hiring four additional 911 operators will mean more consistent response times.

Mayor Betsy Hodges says 911 calls are answered, on average, within 6 or 7 seconds.

But a WCCO investigation earlier this year found some calls taking much longer, sometimes two or three minutes.

Operators blamed low staffing levels during a long-term training program.

In her first budget address Thursday, Hodges proposed $346,000 to help the department.

"Additional operators will allow this critically important department the flexibility to increase staffing to have more time to train and to anticipate retirements," the mayor said.

She also proposed a 2.4 percent property tax levy increase for next year.

But she says half of homeowners would not see an increase in the city portion of their property taxes.

To see the mayor's entire budget proposal, click here.