Dallas police and firefighters earn the most in the city, but new programs could cut overtime

Top Dallas police and fire officials say their departments’ high overtime costs are likely to decline as staffing increases.

But estimates of when the target number of officers will be reached vary. The police chief estimates it could take the city nearly a decade to get enough officers.

“Once we get to about 3,600 officers, that’s when we’ll see a reduction in overtime,” Police Chief Eddie García said during Wednesday’s City Council meeting. The police department has nearly 3,100 officers. It’s expected to have about 3,160 by the end of September next year and 3,600 by 2033.

If current trends continue, the department estimates it will need $22 million to cover overtime in 2033. Its overtime budget is currently $42 million, but budget officials estimate the costs will reach more than $55 million by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Next year’s police overtime budget is proposed at $59 million. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

Dallas Fire Department Deputy Chief Financial Officer Alex Rodriguez said his agency could achieve its goal much sooner.

“We plan to be at that capacity sometime after January 2026,” he said. “Once we get there, we’ll start hiring just in case we lose employees.” The fire department has about 2,180 firefighters. The city estimates it will have 2,260 by the end of September 2025 and September 2026.

Several city council members noted that as the region grows, they will rely more on emergency services.

“Simply put, until you have officers, you have to have overtime,” said Mayor Eric Johnson.

Dallas police and fire departments regularly exceed overtime budgets, and uniformed workers are among the highest paid in the city

The city spent $11 million more than budgeted on police overtime and an additional $13 million on the fire department last year. The 25 people earning the most overtime in 2022 and 2023 are police officers and firefighters, according to Dallas Morning News’ June salary data review.

Each earned at least $110,000 in overtime alone in 2022, and that total rose to at least $118,000 last year. The city said it paid employees more than $128 million in overtime in 2022 and more than $140 million in 2023.

Although both departments have forecasted that more money would be needed for overtime than planned, the upcoming budget proposed by interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert recommends only increasing overtime spending at the Police Department. Rodriguez touted ongoing plans, such as having the department hire more dedicated paramedics instead of hiring firefighters who are also trained as medics, as ways to reduce overtime costs.

Dallas Fire-Rescue’s proposed overtime budget for the next fiscal year is $28 million. The current overtime budget is more than $38 million, and the department estimates it will need $40 million to cover the costs.

Police and fire officials told City Council members Wednesday they were aware of concerns about responsible use of overtime, but said it was necessary to ensure the city had enough first responders to respond to emergency calls. They said they had plans to address the high use of overtime, largely focused on increasing recruitment and retention.

“We need to limit overtime,” interim Fire Chief Justin Ball told council members.

Under the proposed plan, the Dallas Police Department’s overall budget would increase from nearly $657 million to $719 million, and the Dallas Fire and Rescue Department’s budget would increase from $413 million to nearly $430 million.

The city’s latest recommended budget includes a pilot program for employee referrals. DPD employees could receive $1,000 for referring police trainees or officers from other departments hired by Dallas. The pilot program would include a bonus for referring 100 DPD members. The budget also suggests the department try a new program that allows officers to receive payments for unused sick leave at the end of the year. The draft budget includes $2 million to cover unused sick leave bonuses.

García said the police department is also considering hiring more officers to work 10-hour shifts with an extra day off, instead of eight hours. He said the results of a trial run at some department stations have been positive.

Both agencies said recruitment and retention issues have resulted in fewer staff, but they hope the situation will improve.

The police department is projecting to hire 237 officers this fiscal year and lose 190. In the past two fiscal years, the department lost more officers to attrition than it hired, with a net loss of 27 officers last year and 36 the year before.

The fire department estimates it will hire about 245 firefighters, losing 130. In fiscal year 2023, the department saw a staffing increase of 44 firefighters, up from 15 firefighters last year.

Representatives from both departments said the biggest problem is keeping uniformed services employees from leaving within five years.

Of the 190 officers the force estimates it will lose by the end of September, about 44% will leave after five years or less with the agency. Retirements make up the next largest share, at 38%.

The fire department estimates that 65% of those leaving this fiscal year have five years or less of experience.

Ball said the department needs to do more research to determine why people are leaving, but noted that firefighting and situations employees face on the job may be factors.

“They might just realize it’s not for me and leave,” he said. The interim chief also noted that there are cases where the city trains some firefighters, and then they get jobs at departments in other cities because of better pay or a lighter workload.

Firefighters said one change their agency is considering is allowing employees working 24-hour shifts to leave the fire station for up to four hours every 28 days.

Rodriguez said a national study found that many firefighters reported leaving their departments within five years because they felt “time off was more important than money.” He noted that he had forgotten how many birthdays and anniversaries he had missed because of the firefighting.

Police officials said department policy calls for officers to work a maximum of 16 hours in a 24-hour period and no more than 80 hours in a single workweek. They acknowledged, however, that some patrol officers and detectives work longer than the limit.

The policy allows the chief constable or deputy chief constable to authorise exceptions, and instances where officers must remain at work beyond the end of their scheduled shift also mean some may exceed the total number of hours allowed to be worked in a day or week.

“It rarely happens, but I think we always have to make exceptions because in an emergency we don’t have the option to go home,” García said.

Martin Riojas Jr., deputy director of the police department, said the agency is developing a new internal report to better track whether the department is following its own work hours policies and whether overtime is being taken when necessary. He said the internal report already shows overtime by unit and by users with high overtime volume.