Hamilton City Council approved a contract extension with its police bargaining units that will eventually add four more patrol officers on the street.

While there will be more patrol officers on the street, including one officer dedicated to patrol the downtown area, there will be fewer sworn officers from 105 to 104 officers as well as the elimination of five supervisory officers - two sergeants and three detectives — through attrition as well as converting two other sworn positions to civilian positions.

In exchange, the city agreed to extend the current contracts with the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 38, through Aug. 31 2015 as well as keeping the base wages unchanged through that date, said City Manager Joshua Smith. However, there will be a re-opener on the agreement’s health insurance language in 2014, he said.

“In my mind, this is a step in the right direction,” he said.

Smith said the current contract was to expire on Aug. 31, 2014.

He said the contract modification were the result of the current financial challenges to the city’s General Fund.

“The intent is to get more of our officers on the street. The attrition of five supervisory positions will allow us to place more officers on patrol,” Smith said. “I want to thank the FOP for working the city administration in these difficult economic times.”

Smith told council the police department has 22 fewer sworn officers than it did two years ago and has resulted in about $2 million in savings. Over that same period of time, Smith said the police budget has been reduced by 4 percent.

Police Chief Scott Scrimizzi said once the change is implemented, the number of patrol officers will go from 63 to 67 officers. While Scrimizzi has been the chief for just less than a year, there has been plenty of changes in the department. However, he said it’s good for an organization to realign itself periodically.