This Contract Steals $218M from Everything Else
Republicans already set revenue caps on the state’s biggest, Democratically controlled cities. Now they are demanding massive, unaffordable increases in police spending in both Austin and Dallas.
In Dallas, voters will get a chance to say NO to massive increases in police spending. Here in Austin, our Council will decide this next week. Your testimony matters!! Council members know it takes effort to come to City Hall. Your effort says you care deeply, and you will hold them accountable for their actions!
The message is simple. After we add $218M more to the police budget, just to increase wages for existing officers by 28%, how will we fund climate mitigation, our social safety net, alternatives to arrest and jail for addiction and mental illness, and every other Democratic priority? There will be no more money for that.
And on top of that, the contract does NOT implement the Austin Police Oversight Act — at least not as voters passed it. It limits the OPOs role in investigations and creates a pathway for officer grievances to reinstate the notorious g-file, permanently sealing records of police misconduct, again. We have come too far to allow that.
The only way we stop this? Testify IN PERSON next week (or you can sign up for remote testimony and they will hear you by phone). Council will meet to discuss this bad deal on Tuesday, 10/22 at 9am. Then your Council member will vote on Thursday 10/24. Hit the button below to sign up to speak this coming Tuesday! If you can come to City Hall we strongly encourage you to do so.
We will help you with your testimony. There will be links to all the documents and talking points you can look over in advance. But the best testimony comes from the heart. Which departments or programs or services are important to you? What happens if they are defunded? Why do you care about police oversight and transparency?
The City had to revise its five year forecast with more optimistic assumptions in order to show this deal could be covered without a deficit.
But what does that mean? It means that no department will be able to expand as the City continues to grow. With five new parks just now coming on line, we already need more money for park maintenance than is budgeted for. As federal dollars distributed during COVID wind down, existing programs face steep cuts if we don’t invest local dollars.
And if revenue from sales tax, property tax or the electric utility falls short of the optimistic forecast, then there will be steep cuts to existing programs. But not to the police budget, because state law prohibits cities from reducing police budgets at all, ever. This is the squeeze Republicans are creating. A steep police budget that can never be reduced, and revenue caps that limit how much money can be raised for all local needs.
And Republicans backing this terrible deal don’t really even care if we add more police. This contract will make each police officer cost so much that Austin will not be able to increase the police staffing level. The forecast used to convince members to vote for this assumes as much.