Cincinnati City Council took the compromise budget drafted by a coalition of conservatives, loaded it up with nearly $1.5 million in new spending, and — for the first time in a decade — unanimously passed the city's budget Wednesday.

        In its last meeting of the year, council made major structural changes to city government Wednesday, eliminating the Safety Department and merging Economic Development with the Department of Neighborhood Services. Cutting those bureaucracies will save the city $707,470, Mayor Charlie Luken said.

        The budget still contains some controversial measures that would add 30 new officers to the Police Division next year and introduce “managed competition” of city services, opening the door to privatization.

        And the minority of four council members still registered their objections to those items during a confusing round of line-item votes in which Paul Booth, Minette Cooper, David Crowley and Alicia Reece often changed their votes to “no” minutes after the votes were taken.

        Just three days ago, those council members were shut out of the process as Mr. Luken worked with Republicans, conservative Democrats and a Charterite to broker a behind-the-scenes budget deal.

        “I found the process somewhat disconcerting. We have a broad city council. We have women. We have African-Americans. And the beginning of this process was limited. It did not have inclusion by sex or race,” Ms. Cooper said.

        In the end, all voted to approve the final budget, “in a show of unity,” as Mr. Booth put it.

        They were brought on board with changes that include:

        • The creation of a $1.5 million neighborhood fund proposed by Ms. Reece.

        • The restoration, proposed by Mr. Crowley, of a $130,150 cut to school nurses. It saves about 2 1/2 nurses from the budget ax.

        • A cut of just $50,000 to the Office of Environmental Management proposed by Ms. Cooper. The mayor had proposed a $300,000 cut, which would have all but eliminated the office, and the conservatives' budget reduced that amount to $150,000.

        • Reduced funding for a bike trail championed by Republican Pat DeWine. It was a last-minute compromise that helped win the vote of Mr. Booth, a Democrat, who said the trail looked like the same kind of budget pork that Republicans have criticized in the past.

        But even if all nine council members were satisfied with the final product, many city workers were not.

        “There's been no real opportunity for the citizens to study it or provide meaningful input,” said Robert Turner, director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Ohio Council 8. “How many of these jobs, and what services will be eliminated under this budget, nobody knows.”

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