Council Approves $218 Million Police Contract, Oversight Advocates Sue Again

Photo by John Anderson

With a 10-1 vote last night, city council struck a blow to the dubious narrative that has formed about the relationship between City Hall and the Austin Police Association (APA) for the past four years.

That is that, in 2020, council “defunded” the Austin Police Department and that council members since then have refused to appropriately invest in the city’s police force.

After hours of public testimony, council approved a five-year, $218 million contract with the APA – an amount that the association representing retired officers claims to be the largest in Texas history. This will have dire budgetary ramifications for the city, at large, in future years. Even if the optimistic financial forecasts provided by the city’s budget office hold, future councils will have to raise taxes. How much they raise taxes will depend on a range of factors, including how much money elected leaders are willing to divert from Austin Energy.

Now, APA members will need to approve the contract before it can be executed. If that happens – which appears likely – association leadership will have to make good on their claims made over the past two years that a long term contract would be key to addressing patrol shortages, improving response times, and reducing crime. Though, they’ll be assisted in the latter of those goals as crime has already been decreasing in Austin over the past three years.

CM Zo Qadri was the lone vote against the contract. “I don’t believe this contract reflects the values of a majority of Austinites,” Qadri said. “I’m disappointed tonight with the expediency of this contract, the detrimental budget impacts, and the unclear timeline for release of previously confidential information” – a reference to ongoing concern around how the contract will affect the “G file,” where some police misconduct records have been kept secret.

CM Alison Alter, one of the shrewdest budget hawks on the dais, explained her support for the contract. “We must ask whether declining this contract would be any less expensive or deliver more oversight,” Alter said. She noted that the contract also includes provisions aimed at promoting APD personnel up the chain of command who demonstrate the kind of values and experience community members have said they want in police leadership. “Cultural change simply will not work without a chief who prioritizes it,” Alter said. “Focused leadership is the only way that we can turn the page to create the police force that our community has asked for and where our officers thrive.”

Meanwhile, Equity Action – the group that wrote the Austin Police Oversight Act – has asked a judge to invalidate the council vote (on Wednesday, EA tried, unsuccessfully, to get a judge to block council from voting in the first place). EA’s argument is that the new contract violates key provisions of the Oversight Act around the “G file” and how the Office of Police Oversight conducts investigations into misconduct.

A virtual hearing over EA’s request is set for Oct. 25 at 3pm in District Judge Catherine Mauzy’s court.