The Bossier City Council on Tuesday approved the hiring four police officers. Higher-than-expected attrition has put the Police Department below the manpower level the city wants.

The city, which cut its workforce 10 percent last year because of a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, is under a hiring freeze. The City Council must approve new hires.

The council also approved letting the city administration hire a tax audit supervisor, a Public Works Department employee and a police records clerk. Those positions are open after resignations or firings. The city will also replace a police dog that died.

Nineteen Police Department employees have either retired, resigned or been fired this year, the department said. That attrition level dropped the Police Department to 217 employees. The city wants to keep 221 employees in the department, officials said.

The four new police officers will be hired Jan. 1. The jobs will be offered to Police Department employees who were among those laid off, Police Department spokesman Mark Natale said. Five cadets at the training academy and one police officer were laid off.

The City Council has approved 10 other hirings since the overall hiring freeze went into effect, the administration said. Each was to replace employees who quit or were fired.

Bossier City cut approximately 10 percent of its workforce at the end of last year to deal with the deficit. The majority were unfilled positions but approximately three dozen people lost their jobs, the administration said.