City of Austin, Austin Police Association reach tentative deal

AUSTIN, Texas - After months of back-and-forth negotiation, the City of Austin and Austin Police Association appear to have reached a deal. 

Austin police officers have been without a contract for more than a year.

The tentative deal includes raises and more police oversight.

"It's taken us six months to get to this point," said Michael Bullock, president of the Austin Police Association.

The police union says it's been going on a year and a half without a contract.

"When our contract was voted down, we had more officers leaving than coming to the department. And so, a contract is a critical component to being able to recruit officers and to maintain the staffing levels that we need," said Bullock.

However, Mayor Kirk Watson says for the first time in five years, Austin is on track to end this year with more officers than it started.

"I’ve stood firm saying that a long-term contract is in the best interest of our community, as well as our officers, to ensure we can fill vacancies as well as retain officers. This agreement achieves those goals and more," Watson said.

In February 2023, the Austin Police Association walked away from negotiations after council refused to take up a four-year contract. The last day the APD was under a long-term contract with the city was in March 2023.

"It provides a pretty unstable environment for officers that are here currently. Makes it more difficult for us to bring people in from other cities to recruit here or to get people to want to join our profession at all. So it's definitely been a struggle operating out of a contract," said Bullock.

The tentative agreement includes a 28% increase for Austin police officers for over five years with a total value of $217.8 million. It also includes an increased stipend for patrol officers as well as officers working night shifts or field training officers.

One of the big sticking points in reaching a deal has been police oversight.

Voters approved the Austin Police Oversight Act in May 2023 to boost transparency. After a judge ordered the measure to be implemented, the City of Austin says those accountability practices are in the new agreement.

"At the end of all of this, the goal is for people to be able to see better response time, for them to see more officers, for them to see us be able to respond to more calls. So overall, it's about improving the quality of service that we're able to provide to Austinites," said Bullock.

Bullock says the city council will vote on the agreement at its Oct. 10 meeting. Both the city and the APD have to approve it for it to go into effect.