Austin police budget debate may be punted to next year
As tensions again rose over the appropriate amount of millions to cut from the Austin Police Department’s budget, a new potential solution has surfaced: Punt the whole debate into next year and try again.
The pump-the-brakes proposal from City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison, presented Tuesday during a council work session, would allow more time to plow through a complex discussion that remains messy with a week to go before the City Council is set to adopt the city’s budget. It also came as Police Chief Brian Manley objected to proposals to reduce $100 million from his department’s budget, saying doing so would pose barriers to public safety.
Under Harper-Madison’s plan, the council would authorize the Police Department’s budget for only the first six months of the year. It would then come back and hammer out additional budgetary details for the rest of the year, addressing issues such as the viability of moving some services to other departments and a proposal to cut all cadet classes in the next fiscal year.
“That makes sense to me,” Mayor Steve Adler said of the proposed delay, citing cost-saving proposals that have not been fully vetted.
Council Member Alison Alter called it “an important addendum.”
The idea likely will come up again Thursday when some of the council members gather virtually to discuss the police budget at the Public Safety Committee meeting. On Wednesday, Adler will give a state of the city address, and discussion of the police budget is expected to be front and center.
Before addressing her colleagues, Harper-Madison, through a staff member, wrote on the council’s message board Tuesday with concerns about the budget process. “This year’s accelerated budget process has left us with little time to do the work that is necessary to create lasting change in how our city addresses public safety,” the post read.
Council Member Delia Garza opposed the idea, saying she worried that in six months the council still would not be prepared to adopt the police budget and would seek an extension. Garza, who last month won the Democratic primary for the Travis County attorney race, would not be on the council for those discussions.
Tuesday’s proposal from Harper-Madison coincided with pushback from Manley against cuts recently proposed by Council Members Leslie Pool, Greg Casar and Jimmy Flannigan. Casar said his plan would remove $93 million from the Police Department through cuts and the reallocation of services, with room for an additional $28 million in budget cuts.
Casar’s plan seeks to remove $10 million by canceling three cadet classes in the next fiscal year. Manley, in response, said that would reduce the department to 2012 staffing levels — a time when the city had roughly 150,000 fewer residents than it has today.
“I cannot believe slowing down cadet classes is in the best interest of our community,” Manley said.
Manley referenced a study released this week by The Wall Street Journal that showed Austin this year has had the highest homicide rate increase among the nation’s 15 biggest cities. Of that same sample, Austin had the second-to-lowest total number of homicides, a reflection that the city remains relatively safe despite the upticks in homicides. The city has had 28 homicides through Tuesday.
Flannigan, noting the disparity, accused Manley of “fearmongering.”
Manley later drew the ire of Garza when the chief, in arguing against proposed cuts to the police overtime budget and the mounted horse patrol, said, “I get concerned when we cut $100 million just to say we cut $100 million.”
Activists have been calling for reductions of from $100 million to $220 million. City Manager Spencer Cronk’s current proposal calls for $11.3 million in reductions.
Garza fired back at Manley, saying the plan has never been to make cuts just for the sake of doing it.
“It’s to try to get to a place where everyone in our community feels safe,” she said. “I’m losing hope we can get there hearing comments like that from our chief.”