Tue Sep 10 18:37:56 UTC 2024: ## Austin Police Department to Receive Major Pay Increase Amid Staffing Crisis
**Austin, TX** – The Austin Police Department is on the verge of a major pay increase, potentially reaching nearly 30% over the next five years. The proposed agreement, which comes after six months of negotiations, aims to address a severe staffing shortage that has plagued the department since 2020.
The proposed deal, which is still under review by the Austin Police Association (APA) union, follows years of significant officer departures. The department has lost more officers than it has hired each year since 2020, when the city council voted to cut $150 million from the department’s budget in response to Black Lives Matter protests.
The staffing shortage has led to a number of challenges for the city, including longer response times for emergency calls and entire sections of the city being left unpatrolled for hours at a time.
The APA’s original proposal called for a 12% increase in base wages for new officers in their first year, with a further 5% increase in each of the following four years. The city has countered with a more gradual increase, starting with a 7.5% increase in year one and 6% in year two, followed by 4% increases in subsequent years.
In addition to the pay increase, the city has also proposed pay stipends for patrol officers, which both sides have already agreed to.
“We need to make sure that we are keeping people on patrol who want to be on patrol, so that way we can provide the highest level of service to citizens who are having usually the worst day of their life when they have to call us,” said APA President Michael Bullock.
The APA is expected to continue meeting with city officials this week to finalize the agreement.
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