After budget cut, Mayor Johnson requests audit on police overtime spending
DALLAS — Mayor Eric Johnson has requested an audit of the Dallas Police Department’s use of its overtime budget.
The mayor’s request came after police overtime became a major topic during the City Council’s Fiscal Year 2020-2021 budget discussions. The majority of the City Council ultimately voted to cut about 25% of the police department’s proposed overtime budget. Police spent more than $31 million on uniform overtime last fiscal year. This fiscal year, the budget allocates $17.3 million in overtime.
Mayor Johnson voted against the police overtime cut, citing the ongoing violent crime increase, the projected net loss of officers for the fiscal year, and police response times that have too often missed their targets. But some councilmembers in favor of the cut said that overtime is abused within the police department.
“As city leaders, we must remain focused on public safety and accountability,” Mayor Johnson said. “If the police overtime budget has been abused or mismanaged, especially to the tune of $7 million, the people of Dallas deserve to know, and we will need city management to take steps to correct any problems.
“And if police overtime has not been abused or mismanaged, the people of Dallas deserve to know, and to have the confidence that their government is operating in a fiscally sound manner.”
Mayor Johnson has said that public safety is his top priority and had previously stated his intention to look into the police overtime issue when he made changes to some City Council committees.
City Auditor Mark Swann, Public Safety Committee Chairwoman Jennifer Staubach Gates, and Government Performance and Financial Management Committee Chairwoman Cara Mendelsohn recently met and agreed on the audit's scope. Swann hopes to complete his report in the spring.
Through the first two months of the fiscal year, the city had spent about $4.3 million in police overtime, according to the mayor’s monthly public safety priorities report.
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