The Southlake Crime Control and Prevention District approved the operating budget for fiscal year 2023-24 on Sept. 5.

The budget will include expanding the number of school resource officers on Carroll ISD campuses.

There are 19 officers in the district, including a captain, a sergeant and a corporal. All of the new budget plans are to improve the safety and security standards with new technology, and keep the police well trained and properly equipped.

A closer look

The proposed budget expenditures are $2,217,238, not including the capital project funding of $334,500, which will be used to relocate the Emergency Operations Center to the first level of the Department of Public Safety Headquarters. The budget will use $1,886,988 to continue to fund the city’s school resource officers, or SROs, as well as $49,000 for the Southlake Town Square security initiative and $281,250 for additional items listed in the memo.

Below is a list of what the $281,250 will be used for:
  • $106,000 to replace the duty firearms with the newest model of Glock 9mm
  • $93,250 for the School Safety Initiative, which will add another SRO to improve campus safety
  • $32,000 to replace the evidence refrigerator in the department’s property room, which came with the building originally
  • $30,000 to purchase an additional six vehicle radios so all of the department’s newly purchased vehicles can be properly equipped
  • $20,000 for K-9 dog decoy training, which is conducted weekly and started in June

Quote of note

“One thing I would like to note as well as just a reminder [is] that crime control debt was fully paid off several years ago,” Southlake Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson said. “So it says debt-free funding source as well as continuation of the school resource officers are included in the crime control budget as long as we're adding an additional officer this year in 2024. And again, it continues with adding additional equipment for police services as well as in the technology area as well. And the good news is that the ending fund balance is healthy and just over $4 million. So this is that very financial, stable fund.”