BENTONVILLE -- About $100,000 for Bentonville's continued renovation of the downtown square is in the city's 2006 budget, along with a potential grant to complete a trail headed toward the community college.

The Bentonville City Council met for a second night in a row to discuss the 2006 draft budget, which includes $2 million set aside for a new main fire station.

Police Chief James Allen hopes the council will add two more officers to his rotation. Those officers will concentrate on traffic and accidents, he said.

Hiring them would be the first step toward an accident reduction team, he said. Officers would monitor problem intersections and try to prevent accidents.

The two officers would add $87,830 to the city's budget, which does not currently include 18 positions requested by various department heads. It would also put the ratio of officers to residents at two per 1,000. That's a good number if the city's population is 24,000, Allen said.

The chief also requested eight replacement cars. The cars would come equipped with digital video cameras. Allen hopes to have cameras in all cars in the next four years.

Bentonville will have to use city and private money to make the second phase reality. The first phase cost $690,000 and it was estimated back then that the second phase would be $1 million, Britt Vance, Bentonville's public works director, said in June.

Council members reviewed departments one by one and still have eight more to go when they meet again in two weeks. They want to have the budget passed by the end of the year.

They did hear from Galloway that building inspection licenses and fees collected next year could drop slightly because of the lack of big building projects, Galloway said.

Cases being heard in Bentonville's municipal court are increasing, and Staff Attorney Camille Thompson asked the council to hire another staff attorney. Thompson has been with the city for five years and is also responsible for handling the city's legal issues.

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