Police present flat FY26 budget; chiefs warn of roughly $6.6M overtime shortfall and staffing gaps

Chief CJ Davis, chief of the Memphis Police Department, told the City Council budget committee on May 12 that the department expects a year‑end shortfall driven mainly by overtime and incentive pay and presented a flat FY26 general‑fund request of $300.6 million.

“We do project to be somewhere around $6,600,000 over budget because of overtime,” Chief CJ Davis said when summarizing the department’s forecast and drivers.

Why it matters: The police budget is the largest single division in the city general fund. The committee’s scrutiny focused on recruiting, vacant positions that are reserved for recruit classes and communications dispatchers, and outside contracts and recoveries that affect the operating picture.

Budget highlights presented by Vincent Eason, MPD finance manager: the FY26 proposed general-fund total is $300,600,000 — shown as flat with FY25 adopted — with 89.7% of that total for personnel costs. Davis and Eason said the department’s personnel budget increased modestly for step/retention costs and fringe‑benefit recalculations; material and supplies decreased after certain costs (claims and lawsuits) were centralized and moved out of the divisional budget.

Staffing and vacancies were central to the questioning. MPD reported a 3,098 authorized complement with 2,345 filled and 753 unfilled positions. Of the 753 vacancies, 360 were “on hold and unfunded” from the prior year; of the remainder, 250 positions are reserved for upcoming recruit classes (200 for police recruits, 50 for communications dispatchers), leaving 143 positions available for filling, the presentation said. Council members asked how salary savings related to unfilled positions are applied; City Chief Operating Officer Antonio Adams said vacancy savings will be available to mitigate draws on unassigned fund balance and address shortfalls where needed.

Council members pressed on the scale of outside professional services and other line items. Councilwoman Green noted that the forecast for outside professional services was materially higher than the adopted FY25 budget and urged the department and administration to examine whether work could be done in‑house rather than contracted.

Davis described efforts to manage overtime: reducing dedicated officers at some small special events, redirecting coverage to patrol, and tightening overtime controls at the precinct/commander level. He said those changes prevented a much larger overrun: without the controls the department projected a figure closer to $12M. Davis also told the committee the department now runs roughly $1.3M of overtime per pay period under the current controls; absent raises or added incentives, the department said a FY26 overtime budget at that pace would align with a $32M annual overtime baseline.

On special-event permitting, Davis told the committee he and the administration are considering changes to the permitting process so organizers provide up‑front payment for required security; Council members followed up with questions about billing and timing for event security.

Grants and recoveries: Davis said about $2 million in city and state grants have been allocated to target violent crime and to offset overtime, and the department referenced the VSIP state grant as an item that supplements overtime. Multiple council members asked for clearer line‑item detail on transfers, recoveries and encumbrances across the MPD forecast.

No formal votes were taken on the FY26 request during the committee hearing; the presentation and follow‑up questions generated requests for additional documentation on vacancy savings, contract spend and the overtime amendment submitted by the department.