The East Lansing City Council approved changes to the $50 million city budget late Tuesday night that will include more money for parks and recreational facilities.

Residents will reap the benefits of the budget change by enjoying park improvements in such parks as Harrison Meadows Park and the East Lansing Soccer Complex.

About $4.9 million that was supposed to be on last year’s budget was switched to this fiscal year’s budget, said East Lansing budget administrator Gary Simpson.

The changes were made during the city council’s work session Tuesday night.

The budget is not adopted until May, and even then the budget is not final, he said.

“Think of the budget as a savings and checking account,” Simpson said. “We are just transferring funds to the checking account to pay for city projects.”

Last year’s budget was amended more than four times, Simpson said.

The city has increased money for projects like park improvements, sewer replacement and library technology.

About $96,000 is going toward technological improvements for the city library, $1.1 million for sewer replacement repair and $678,000 for street projects.

Other items in the budget include re-grading the soccer fields at the East Lansing Soccer Complex, and improvements in parking and garage funds.

The city council is in charge of rearranging the budget while the staff places the numbers, Mayor Pro Tem Beth Schwarze said.

“The council can be as picky as we want to be or toss things on the budget,” Schwarze said. “For example, pedestrian lights were needed by the city library and fire station, but only one was in the budget.

“We had to adjust the budget and work with it to find enough money since both were needed.”