AUSTIN, TX — The Austin City Council is transferring hundreds of jobs out of the Austin Police Department after a vote Thursday. The council approved an ordinance that creates a new Emergency Communications Department, which is part of the city council’s plan to reallocate about a third of the APD’s funding.
Under this change, 284.5 full-time equivalent positions will be moved outside the department. A total of 222 of the impacted positions are communications staff members. The other 62.5 positions are alarm administration, human resources, public information and facility maintenance staff. About $33 million worth of funding will be transferred out of the APD’s budget as a result of this change.
Many of the jobs are 911 communications roles. Council Member Alison Alter said those jobs will still exist, but instead of operating under the police department, they will operate under the new Emergency Communications Department.
At the city council meeting, Interim Police Chief Joseph Chacon said he had already spoken with communications staff about the change.
“This really is something that is happening kind of in the background, but for them, would not mean a lot of change in their day-to-day operations,” Chacon said.
Other jobs moving out of the police department and into other city departments will include human resources, alarms administration, public information and building services positions.
“In none of these cases are we spending less money on public safety and these functions,” Alter said in the council meeting Thursday. “We are moving where they are accounted for and the reporting structures for that.”
“From this vantage point, it’s clear that the functions remain, the people remain … but hopefully in a more efficient way that will purvey additional returns to taxpayers in a way that makes sure that we’re getting the right first responders to the right places in a way that would make the community that much more safe,” Mayor Steve Adler said during the council meeting.
Recap of important historical events that took place on that day.
