During the past few months, a small line item in McKinney’s proposed fiscal year 2015-16 budget calling for the reassignment of the four mounted police officers to police first responder positions has become a hot topic.

Several residents have addressed City Council during previous meetings, sent letters of support for the mounted patrol to the city and placed signs in their yards calling on officials to “Keep the mounted patrol.”

The proposal, city officials said, is a strategic relocation of resources, not a reduction in positions, and is only up for consideration.

No action has been taken by officials, and officials have not said whether this plan will be approved. No staff reductions are being proposed in the budget process as a cost-cutting measure by the city.

City officials said the elimination of the mounted patrol would provide enough room in the budget for an additional patrol officer.

According to city officials, the four officers and four horses rotate each shift, and from 2011-14, the mounted unit logged 379 incidents. Of those, 28 were calls for service, and 351 were actions initiated by the officer, such as traffic stops, parking violations or code violations.

This equates to an average of seven calls for service per officer and 61 self-initiated activities per officer in the mounted unit during a three-year period, according to the city. The patrol unit received an average of 428 calls for service and had an average of 265 self-initiated activities per officer during the same time period.

Officials will present updates to council in coming weeks. A budget workshop is set for Aug. 7, and two public hearings will be held in September before the budget is adopted.