Overtime hours due to staffing shortages has doubled since last year, finance director Robin McPherson told the council. The department also eliminated several units, like some community response teams and those focused on gangs and weapons.
The budget includes several points of major investment for the city, including $400 million for community safety with a $142 million increase in the police budget.
"We have bills going back to September, October, November. For car parts, tires that she has not paid," Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard said.
Through the end of May, MPD has used $5.2 million in overtime, with $2.9 million spent during Operation Safety Net surrounding the Derek Chauvin trial.
The Board of Estimate and Apportionment voted 2-1 in favor of the cuts, with Mayor Tishaura Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green supporting the move and Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed opposed.
The proposed Sacramento police budget is set just shy at $165.8 million, a roughly $9.4 million increase from last year’s amended budget.
The council said the money will fully restore Oakland’s Fire Department Services, restore Operation Ceasefire, walking foot patrol officers, expand ShotSpotter, and add community safety ambassadors in areas like Chinatown and the Fruitvale District, among other things.
New Orleans ended furloughs for public safety workers on Monday, tapping into a line of credit to exempt police, firefighters and others from a citywide policy aimed at stemming the fiscal crisis brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
Councilman Paul Krekorian called for his colleagues to scale back that list by nearly two-thirds, and seek to find savings elsewhere — possibly from other city agencies.
The report said that the LAPD cuts would bring the sworn police force down to 8,800, which matches 2002 levels.
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