Austin City Council have unanimously approved the new 2020-21 fiscal year budget, and with it have pledged to cut the Austin Police Department budget by $150Million.
APD is immediately losing out on about $21Million, That is from the council cancelling the next three Police Cadet Classes and other department budget line items.
With the budget vote, council is pledging to remove certain divisions within APD, like Internal Affairs and the Forensics lab, and make them separate entities later on in the fiscal year. This would effectively be taking those budget dollars out of APD.
We did it!! Austin City Council just reduced APD's budget by over $100 million *and* reinvested resources into our community's safety and well-being. Tens of thousands of you have called, emailed, and testified. You made the impossible into a reality. #blacklivesmatter pic.twitter.com/trrYSDEOK6
— Greg Casar (@GregCasar) August 13, 2020
