Austin’s police union and the city agreed in principle Monday to a five-year labor contract.
The $218 million deal, which comes after years of occasionally contentious negotiations, would give police officers a 28 percent raise over the next five years. The complete details have not yet been made available to the public.
City Council is expected to vote on the contract Oct. 10.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said in a statement the new deal extends an olive branch to police officers, while incorporating provisions of the Austin Police Oversight Act, a measure voters passed last year to expand civilian oversight of APD.
“It’s a new day for our officers with the Austin Police Department as I am hopeful our Austin Police Association members will understand the City’s support of them, particularly as it relates to pay and benefits,” Watson said. “I’ve stood firm in saying that a long-term contract is in the best interest of our community, as well as for our officers, to ensure we can fill vacancies as well as retain officers.”
APD has struggled to retain officers over the past five years. At last update, it had more than 350 vacancies in patrol positions.
Watson vowed to get a contract done this year. The city had a deal under previous City Manager Spencer Cronk in 2023, but City Council rejected it because it didn’t take into consideration the forthcoming vote on whether to increase police oversight.
That referendum passed by a 4-to-1 margin, expanding the role of the citizen-led Office of Police Oversight by giving it access to previously confidential police files documenting complaints against officers.
The tentative contract lengthens the timeline for police disciplinary action and allows the Office of Police Oversight to investigate anonymous complaints. In his statement, Watson said those provisions are “a first for the State of Texas, if not the nation.”
Chris Harris, a board member with Equity Action – the nonprofit that helped put the Austin Police Oversight Act on the ballot last year – said the process to reach the deal hasn’t been transparent. For one, Harris said, the language hasn’t been made available to the public yet – and hasn’t been available throughout the year-plus negotiation process, unlike during contract negotiations in 2017, 2018 and 2022.
“Unfortunately, when you keep things secret, that … implies that there’s something that you have to hide,” Harris said. “That gives us a really good reason to believe that there is language in here that they don’t want the public to see.”
Harris and others have specifically been concerned about confidential police discipline files. For years, the department has kept private complaints leveled against police officers that didn’t result in disciplinary action. A judge ruled this month that the city must release those files after a lawsuit from Equity Action, but it’s unclear how the contract would address that ruling.
Harris said City Council’s vote Oct. 10 could be a drawn out affair, depending on what the contract says about the employment files. Harris was one of more than 150 Austinites who testified over a seven-hour stretch against the city’s 2017 police labor contract. The vote on that contract was ultimately delayed, and the city later incorporated changes based on that marathon testimony.
“If there were things that were problematic, it could’ve been surfaced in advance … and potentially changed or renegotiated at the bargaining table,” he said. “If there is some big showdown at City Hall over this, city staff will have no one to blame but themselves.”
This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.
The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.
