Fort Worth Council approves $7.2 million CCPD budget amendment and backs application for sexual-assault kit testing grant

Fort Worth City Council on March 11 approved a midyear amendment to the Crime Control and Prevention District (CCPD) fiscal year 2025 budget that increases spending by $7,230,713 and voted to ratify a city application for a sexual-assault evidence testing grant of up to $250,000 from the Office of the Texas Governor.

The budget amendment, presented by Lorraine Coleman of the Fort Worth Police Department, funds midyear priorities including recruit pay adjustments, a crime-lab operational study, outsourcing of sexual-assault DNA testing, and facility upgrades for a real-time crime center. "This budget amendment was approved by the CCPD board on Feb. 25, 2025," Coleman told council during the staff report.

Coleman outlined the specific allocations the CCPD board recommended: $840,746 for recruit pay following a new meet-and-confer agreement; $99,000 for a crime-lab operations study and $250,000 to outsource sexual-assault DNA kit testing as current funding is expected to be exhausted; and $6,040,967 for facility requirements, including $5,540,967 for renovation and technology to colocate law-enforcement and intelligence resources in a real-time crime center and $500,000 for a Far North staffing pilot intended to test impacts on response times.

The council approved the CCPD budget amendment after brief discussion and a motion to adopt the amendment carried. The council also voted, by hand vote, to ratify the city's application for the sexual-assault evidence testing grant. During public comment before those votes, Adrian Smith of District 6 addressed the council in support of the grant application and urged action on the backlog of untested sexual-assault kits; Smith called the issue a continuing failure that affects survivors.

Council members did not provide a roll-call tally in the record beyond the chair's confirmation that the motions carried. City staff said outsourcing of kit testing will be pursued only as current in-house funding is exhausted and that additional steps required by procurement and grant-award processes will follow if the state award is received.

The actions direct police department staff to implement the budget changes and proceed with outsourcing and pilot activities described in the CCPD amendment, and they authorize the city to accept the grant if awarded.

Implementation timeline and further budget documents will be brought back to council as required by city procedures; the CCPD board had approved the amendment at its Feb. 25, 2025 meeting.

Ending: The council's votes aim to relieve immediate forensic bottlenecks and to fund facility and staffing pilots intended to improve response and investigative capacity. City staff will return with contract, procurement and scheduling details if grant awards or outsourcing agreements proceed.