OKC Police, Fire Departments Make Cuts To Balance City Budget

On Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. the Oklahoma City Council will take a closer look at how the police and fire departments are planning to save money on the 2021 budget.

The Police Department’s overall budget is $226 million. The city says 34 empty positions will not be filled and 12 civilians positions will be cut. These cuts should save the department more than $3 million.

The Department’s overall operations costs are also taking a hit of about $5.5 Million or 2.65%.

The fire departments proposal also calls for a more than 2.5% budget cut. To save money, the fire department said It would not fill 21 positions at the new 38 Fire Station in Southwest OKC. That will save about $2 million.

To save another million dollars the department planned to take some fire trucks out of service when they're shorthanded instead of calling firefighters in for overtime.

Equipment and construction spending is also being cut for a total budget of $152 million.

The city is being forced to cut the budget because sales tax revenue dropped drastically during COVID-19 closures.