(WSBT) Goshen’s city council fine tuned its new budget for the coming year Tuesday night.

But they didn't include any funding for new police officers. The department says it's seen a jump in calls, especially dealing with graffiti, gang activity and curfew violations.

They say the department and the city needs more officers out on the streets.

Wednesday Goshen police responded to a call about graffiti at a restaurant run by Cindy Sweetser.

That’s a problem that officers, as well as businesses and homeowners, are seeing more of.

“It makes me very upset,” Sweetser told WSBT News. “It is an ongoing problem. This is probably the second or third time this has happened to this restaurant alone. So we would like the problem to be corrected, but we don't know how to correct it."

The department is trying to put more officers on the street to put a dent in problems like that.

"We're paying additional police officers to concentrate on curfew issues, which can lead to gang issues, and all kinds of other issues,” said Goshen Police Chief Gary Penland.

The population of Goshen is growing, and there are more new businesses. In addition, there are about a half dozen areas up for annexation.

“And if we want to keep up the service that we have always given to the citizens in the past, the only way to do that is to add additional police officers,” explained Penland. “So I would like to see between three and five, but obviously we will take whatever the city can afford to give us.”

Last year the department asked the city council for the addition of five new officers — that request was not approved.

“I had asked for five full-time police officers. I understood money was tight with the city and I didn't get any police officers for ’07,” Penland said.

His hope is that the council will help provide funding for new officers this time around.

Goshen council members did sign off on a resolution that supports finding the funds needed to hire officers.