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Time for a budget thread. MPD will start Fiscal Year 2021 on October 1 with a budget that’s $33 million *less* than they have today. It’s been reported as an increase, so let’s dig into the details, with some thoughts on how the Judiciary Committee got to our proposal. (1/19)
First, we're redirecting MPD $$ into communities in ways we know work. Second, we have more local police per capita than any other city, and we’re *still* in the middle of a homicide crisis. We must get at the root causes of violence, or we’ll also stay #1 in mass incarceration.
To compare apples to apples, you want to look at MPD’s *revised* budget rather than the one approved last spring.
Revised = money-in-the-bank-right-now budget, and it’s a lot higher than the Council-approved total: $560 vs $601 million. See attached graph.
Revised = money-in-the-bank-right-now budget, and it’s a lot higher than the Council-approved total: $560 vs $601 million. See attached graph.
$601 million? How? Well, throughout the year, money comes in (reprogrammings by Mayor, fed grants). During this year, $32+ million in local tax $ was added, including pay for union employees that was *not* represented in the FY20 budget last spring.
When Committees are developing their budget proposals, they look at the revised budget to see the effects of cuts or increases (including reprogrammings) on an agency’s day-to-day operations -- how programs actually work on the ground.
Also important: as you’ve probably heard, there’s a union-contracted $25 million in pay increases in the FY21 MPD budget. Looks like “increase” over last year’s *approved* budget. But MPD employees started getting those increases mid FY20 – it just didn’t show up on paper.
This year, that pay $ was moved over from a workforce account that holds union contracts for teachers, firefighters, etc., so it looks like a big jump. Again, another reason the *revised* budget is the right one to compare.
So, the Committee proposal for next year lands us at $568 million, which includes those legally req’d $25 million in raises. Compared to the FY20 *revised budget* of $601 million MPD is working with right now, it’s nearly $33 million less - a 5.32% cut. Decidedly not an increase.
But wait, we only took $15 million out (split between operating and capital). Where’s the rest? The Mayor’s budget team had already taken *$22.9 million* out of the police budget before releasing her proposal. Keep that in mind when you hear that “Council abandoned the MPD” line.
(Same thing happened last year when I moved $1.2 million out of MPD and into violence interruption. The Mayor’s team had already moved out almost $20 million. Free advice: don’t believe everything in the MPD slideshows at community crime meetings.)
So how will this all play out? In essence, unless money is transferred in by the Mayor, they’ll be in an effective hiring freeze for new officers. Add attrition into the mix & force numbers will start to drop by about 200 officers (we’re at 3,700-3,800 right now).
Our strategy is to reduce our force size in a responsible way by turning off the spigot plus adding in natural attrition. It starts immediate action & lets the community continue this conversation and reinvest those funds elsewhere where needed.
That said, the Committee didn’t cut the Cadet Program for DC residents coming out of our high schools. We kept the program at 100 cadets (two years ago, we doubled the program in the budget). More DC natives serving in their own neighborhoods = good.
Again, the District has more local police per 10,000 residents than any other city. When people point to a rise in homicides in the past two years, that’s happened under a police force this size. This is not a knock on our MPD: there are obvious limits to what police can prevent.
My budget reinvests millions into community programs we know work and allows them to scale up successfully. We are reducing the size of our police force in a responsible way and shifting funds into other important priorities to make us all safer.
My budget reinvests in violence prevention, victim services, emergency housing, alternatives to prosecutions, restorative justice programs, re-entry supports, & more. I’ll do a thread on those investments soon because there’s some exciting work happening you should know about.
I know not everyone agrees with where we landed. I hear you & now that we’ve gotten through committee & to the full Council, I’m happy to keep the work going. This is the biggest reduction to MPD I've ever seen – but I know racial justice won’t be achieved in a single budget.
The District needs to be committed to a sustained effort of funding, and defunding, that aligns with our priorities and puts our public dollars where they can do the most good.
You may not agree with where we landed, but I want to make sure everyone has the facts. Budget transparency is important, and then you can decide what you think about elected leaders’ decisions for yourself. Thanks for reading.
