Dallas City Council moves toward cutting police department's overtime budget by $7 million

Dallas city councilmembers late Wednesday night took their first vote in favor of cutting the police department's budget.

DALLAS - Dallas city councilmembers late Wednesday night took their first vote in favor of cutting the police department's budget.

Council members voted 11-3 to slash more than a quarter of the department's overtime budget by $7 million.

At 10 p.m. Wednesday about 12 hours into Dallas City Council's marathon budget meeting, Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall explained why she felt a large cut to DPD’s overtime budget would hurt public safety.

“We will do everything in power to be efficient, but we do not control what crime sprees happen protest or civil unrest,” Hall said.

Assistant City Manager Jon Fortune said he had serious concerns about the proposal.

“With demand on the police department to address unprecedented events, the ability to do that without side effects will be hindered,” Fortune said.

Even so, a large majority of council members voted in favor of the cut. The straw vote was 11-3 with the mayor absent to attend to a family matter.

Dallas City Councilman Adam Bazaldua made the proposal saying it would push the department to transfer more jobs to civilian roles and put more current officers on patrol.

“Speaks volumes. Invest $25 million in overtime knowing we have 1,000 officers sitting behind desks,” Bazaldua said.

Councilwoman Jennifer Gates, who opposed the cut, said council members who support it need to pledge they would standby it later rather than dip into reserves.

“You can’t have your cake and eat it too,” Gates said. “Can't say we will cut the money and if we need it, supplant it back.”

Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata said DPD's overtime budget is used to address the issues council members ask for, like stopping street racing and providing extra patrols to combat crime hotspots like last the violence last weekend in Deep Ellum.

“All this is lying to the public. These same council members are going to call the chief and say hey we need extra patrols,” Mata said.

The department has already used $31 million in overtime this year and reduced that budget to $24 million for next year.