Austin's proposed police budget has gotten backlash. Here's where City Council stands.

Austin American-Statesman
Skye Seipp, Austin American-Statesman
August 3, 2023

Although activists have pushed back on the proposed Austin Police Department budget for the next fiscal year, it's not likely to change much once the City Council gives the final approval later this month.

The $32 million hike in the police budget this year is largely driven by costs to increase wages and other efforts to retain and recruit new officers as the city deals with a record number of vacancies in the department.

Progressive advocates have slammed the proposed 7% increase in the police budget at the city's two public input sessions, the first one last week and then the other on Tuesday. Many pointed out that, under state law, the city will have to pay at least $476.5 million every year going forward.

“This $32 million increase only stands to fortify the institution of policing,” Andrew Hairston, education justice project director of Texas Appleseed, said at Tuesday's meeting. “If you do enact this increase of $32 million, you cannot walk it back.”

Even amid the backlash, most City Council members agree the increases are necessary and that there's not a way to lower the costs. Officials have said the increases are largely to help recruit and retain officers as the department deals with a nearly 15% vacancy rate, according to the city. The problem is not unique to Austin, but one that has hurt local policing efforts.

The largest increases come from money council members already agreed to pay after they reached a one-year contract deal with the police union in February. This came after the council struck down a four-year contract the Austin Police Association had reached with former City Manager Spencer Cronk. The council chose instead to wait for the results of the May election, in which voters overwhelmingly approved a measure to increase police oversight.

As part of that ordinance, the council agreed to a 4% wage increase for all sworn staff, which comes at a cost of more than $8 million.

An added $7.7 million to the pension fund is the second-biggest cost driver, with the third being $4.2 million to pay all officers a one-time $2,500 bonus to try to bring the union back to the negotiating table. An additional $2.3 million is being used to offer new cadets a $15,000 signing bonus to help with academy expenses and to get more recruits. That cost is also part of the February agreement.

Not all council members responded to the American-Statesman's requests for comment, but all were given the opportunity for an interview or to provide a written statement on the proposed police budget.

Mayor Kirk Watson

In a written statement, Watson said nearly $23 million of the increase comes from promises already approved by the council in March, such as the 4% pay raise, the retirement process, recruitment incentives and the one-time retention bonus of $2,500 for all officers.

Mayor Kirk Watson/Jay Janner, American- Statesman

He said $5.4 million comes from internal organizational changes of civilian employees that are part of interim City Manager Jesús Garza's efforts to "set up our city for success." He said moving these positions, including 25½ human resources jobs, back to the Police Department will "help the department work better" for everyone.

"We’re discussing all these items," Watson said, "but they are important and needed.”

Natasha Harper-Madison — District 1

Harper-Madison did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

Vanessa Fuentes — District 2

Fuentes declined to comment for this article.

José Velásquez — District 3

Velásquez did not provide a comment for this story.

José “Chito” Vela — District 4

Vela said many of the items in this year's budget are things the council has already agreed to pay, such as the wage increases.

With the state law setting the limit of what the city must give the department, Vela said he intends to look at each increase and see if some of them could be moved to other departments.

José “Chito” Vela/Contributed by José “Chito” Vela

His team is looking at the proposed additional positions for data reporting. He said these positions might be better suited for the Office of Police Oversight.

Those data reporting positions come from recommendations made in a Kroll report. The city is looking to add four personnel to the department at a cost of about $273,000, according to city documents.

Vela said the city has been conscious of the state law since it was passed, and because of it, officials have only applied marginal increases to the police budget in the past few cycles.

However, most of the big driving costs are things that can't be changed, he said.

With growing personnel costs and inflation, "it looks like a majority of that increase is required," Vela said. "We are going to look at it position by position, category by category, (to see) if there are areas we can move out of the budget. ... But we've got to adequately fund the department."

Ryan Alter — District 5

Alter said the biggest concern he has with the increase is the transfer of 25½ human resources positions out of the HR department and into the Police Department. This comes at a cost of nearly $2.9 million.

During a presentation of the budget, city Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo said these positions were originally under the Police Department but were moved to the city's HR department. However, he said the positions were still funded by the Police Department.

Ryan Alter/ Aaron E. Martinez, American-Statesman

Critics expressed concerns that moving these positions would make it more difficult to access files related to police misconduct and to implement aspects of Proposition A, the voter-approved initiative that increases police oversight. Alter echoed similar concerns.

The city said in response to these claims: "The proposed transfer of the Human Resources function from HRD back to APD would not result in any procedural or operational changes related to police personnel files."

Alter also said there might be some increases that the council can do away with, such as the data reporting positions. He added that a big way to decrease spending in the department is to get it fully staffed so the city isn't paying so much overtime.

Either way, once the city approves this year's budget, it will have to pay that amount in the future.

"We just have to be very careful and make sure that the investments we're making (in APD) are investments we want to make for the long term," Alter said.

Mackenzie Kelly — District 6

Kelly said she's pleased the department is getting the proposed funding and said it's a bit of a "misnomer" that the budget is seriously increasing.

She said the transfer of the HR positions is necessary because some officers were delayed in getting overtime pay due to HR issues. Transferring these positions back to the Police Department would resolve the issue, she said.

Mackenzie Kelly/Sara Diggins, American-Statesman

Many Austin police officers have been working overtime hours due to the department's vacancies.

Other changes, such as adding four new staffers to the Police Department's public information office, are also necessary, she said. Currently, Austin police estimate public information requests can take 45 to 60 days to be filled due to the high volume of requests.

"I see these as necessary changes for the longtime health of the Police Department," Kelly said.

Leslie Poole — District 7

Poole said the increases are "legitimate" and not all the costs are related to hiring; some are for efficiency and to be in line with appropriate standards, such as with the moving of HR personnel back to the Police Department.

Leslie Poole/Sara Diggins, American-Statesman

Nearly $7.7 million of the budget increase comes from added money to the police retirement system. Poole said this is to stay in line with a state law passed in 2021. House Bill 4368, authored by former Austin state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, made changes to the Austin Police Retirement System, including increasing the contribution rate in 2022, according to the nonprofit Texas Public Policy Action.

She said while the state law prohibiting the city from ever lowering the budget is a hindrance, and something she never liked, the Police Department's $476.5 million budget for fiscal 2023-24 is necessary.

"The budget looks fine," she said. "I think (the state law) is bad public policy. I don't have any way to work around it. And clearly, we have increases that we need to pay that are legitimate."

Paige Ellis — District 8

Ellis did not provide a comment for this story.

Zohaib “Zo” Qadri — District 9

Qadri said it's important to ensure that everyone working in the public safety sector can afford to "live in the communities they protect."

However, he said he would like to see fewer new dollars given to the police, and more investments made in mental health services, homelessness and other public safety sectors that are also suffering high vacancies, such as emergency medical services.

Zohaib “Zo” Qadri/Aaron E. Martinez, American-Statesman

Qadri said he believes the public in Austin would largely agree with him on this, given that voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposition in 2021 that would have called for the city to increase its police force at a large cost to the city.

"Investing in our communities, creating these opportunities and having these resources for our neighbors so they're not left behind will get us a lot further," he said.

Alison Alter — District 10

Alison Alter did not provide a comment for this story.