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Office of Community Safety seeks $1.9M for 2026; communications staff to move to centralized communications
Summary
Commissioner Todd Barnett presented the Office of Community Safety’s recommended 2026 budget of roughly $1.9 million (91% staff costs) and said certain communications positions will transfer to the city communications department; the presentation also reviewed settlement-agreement implementation and services for large events.
Todd Barnett, commissioner of the Office of Community Safety (OCS), told the Minneapolis City Budget Committee that the mayor’s recommended 2026 budget for OCS is about $1.9 million and that roughly 91% of that amount covers staff costs.
Barnett said OCS — which oversees five departments responsible for more than 1,500 employees citywide — proposed eight FTEs in 2026 and recommended moving the office’s communications staff to the city’s centralized communications department. “The communications staff are not included in the 2026 slide,” Barnett said, explaining the proposed transfer to align communications work with the citywide communications plan.
Barnett reviewed accomplishments tied to the settlement agreement and community safety work streams, including year-one implementation steps, expanded late-night safety plans beyond downtown, and training more than 180 staff in incident command and NIMS protocols. He said OCS advanced 80 recommendations from the Safe and Thriving Community report but that many recommendations require deeper system change and sustained staffing capacity.
On budget specifics, Barnett said the one-time funding included in 2025 (for items such as MPD background checks and late-night safety planning) will drop out in 2026 and that OCS moved one vacant intelligence analyst position out of the office to meet the mayor’s target budget. Barnett said the office eliminated a $50,000 discretionary line and identified savings that avoid layoffs within OCS.
Council Member Wansley pressed for clarification on funding and implementation for settlement-agreement and consent-decree provisions, including a previously discussed $750,000 figure for an independent monitor under a federal consent decree. City budget staff said the settlement reserve is a one-time general fund balance set aside for emerging one-time needs and that Alifa (the contracted implementation monitor referenced in the presentation) is currently contracted only for settlement-agreement implementation; budget staff said the reserve is not an automatic funding source for a federal consent decree absent a binding agreement.
Barnett and deputy commissioner Jared Jeffries said OCS expects to rely on about $3.5 million in federal funding across OCS departments in 2026 and acknowledged that federal grant declines present a risk. Council members asked about the status of an MPD staffing study; Barnett said he did not have an immediate update and would return with a status report. Committee members also asked for the job descriptions and roles for communications positions proposed to move to the centralized communications office.
The Budget Committee filed the presentation for the record after questions.
