{"id":227050,"date":"2025-09-14T21:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T21:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/227050\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T21:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T21:07:11","slug":"fort-worths-biggest-budget-item-police-heres-how-the-city-plans-to-spend-460m-on-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/227050\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth\u2019s biggest budget item: police. Here\u2019s how the city plans to spend $460M on it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fort Worth is expected to devote about $460.1 million to its police department over the next fiscal year, according to drafts of the city\u2019s budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the city\u2019s largest spending item by far, followed by the fire department, which is budgeted at about half that amount. Cities commonly see police and fire departments among their biggest budget line items.<\/p>\n

Of dedicated police funding, $130.27 million is expected to come from a special city fund fed by a 0.5 cent sales tax, the Crime Control and Prevention District<\/a>, or CCPD, according to the budget book. The rest will come from the city\u2019s general fund.<\/p>\n

Fort Worth\u2019s budget isn\u2019t finalized until City Council approves it in a vote expected Sept. 16.<\/p>\n

Where the money is going<\/p>\n

About $290.4 million will pay for the salaries and benefits of around 1,896 officers and 574 staff members. Another $39.4 million will go toward day-to-day operations and maintenance within the department.<\/p>\n

About $16.5 million of funds will go toward staff raises, as required by the city\u2019s bargaining agreement with the police union.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The department\u2019s general fund budget is about $2.6 million larger than in 2025 \u2014 a relatively small increase compared to previous year increases. That\u2019s because Fort Worth is moving 168 emergency response employees \u2014 and about $17.8 million that pays for them \u2014 to the city\u2019s newly created Emergency Management & Communications Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The draft budget also includes $1.7 million to add eight neighborhood police officers.<\/p>\n

Police officials aim to cut $1.8 million in overtime and operating costs as part of the city\u2019s required budget reductions. Gearing up for a rough budget-balancing season earlier this year<\/a>, City Manager Jay Chapa asked all departments to cut 1% from their budget, with some exceptions for police and fire.<\/p>\n

The police department breaks down<\/a> into three bureaus: the patrol bureau, which holds most employees and officers; the support bureau, which covers programs including intelligence, records management, the crime lab and specialized functions, such as SWAT and narcotics units; and the finance and personnel bureau, which oversees the department\u2019s administrative and fiscal matters.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s budget plan notes several challenges in future years, including the department\u2019s struggle to recruit and retain a police force large enough for the city\u2019s growing size. Maintenance of aging infrastructure and vehicles could also strain future budgets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sept. 16, when City Council is expected to approve the budget, members will also swear in Eddie Garc\u00eda<\/a> as Fort Worth\u2019s 28th police chief. Garc\u00eda will make $306,000 annually. He replaces former Police Chief Neil Noakes, who retired in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at\u00a0drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org<\/a> or @shawlings601<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n

Republish This Story<\/p>\n

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Republishing is free for noncommercial entities. Commercial entities are prohibited without a licensing agreement. Contact us for details. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fort Worth is expected to devote about $460.1 million to its police department over the next fiscal year,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":227051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,7371,117288,12612,8902,7372,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-227050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fort-worth","10":"tag-fort-worth-2026-budget","11":"tag-fort-worth-city-council","12":"tag-fort-worth-police-department","13":"tag-fortworth","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115204695249738914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}