REINFORCEMENTS FOR WAR ON RATS

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is adding reinforcements in Chicago’s never- ending war on rats.

The mayor’s 2018 budget will add five more rodent control crews — for a total of 30 — and provide $ 500,000 in additional funding to purchase more black garbage carts.

Already this year, the city has responded to more than 23,400 requests to replace lost, stolen or damaged carts. More than 10,000 black garbage carts and more than 3,000 blue recycling carts have been repaired since Jan. 1, 2016.

The $ 1 million investment will be included in the 2018 budget that Emanuel is scheduled to unveil next week

It will be paid for by additional savings generated by and personnel freed up from the switch from a ward- byward system of garbage collection to a grid system.

“These critical investments in rodent control and garbage carts allow us to continue to provide the best possible service on behalf of resi- dents,” Emanuel was quoted as saying in a press release.

Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Charles Williams said the additional investment will help ensure that “every report” about rats is “addressed within five days or less.”

The city has already achieved that five- day standard, even after fielding 39,000 rat abatement requests this year, the commissioner said.