The next fiscal year starts on Oct. 1, and City Council will approve the budget in September, which includes the CCPD, according to city documents.
The cost
Police Chief Don Fortune said the total expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year is $3,036,281—$306 above the expected revenues.
The proposed budget Fortune provided to council—which was approved in a 5-0 vote—includes spending $486,425 on vehicle replacements. That includes:
- Four Dodge Durango patrol units totaling $192,000
- Two Harley-Davidson motorcycles totaling $39,990
- One Chevrolet Tahoe patrol unit for $50,000
“We are going to look into Dodge Durangos, which are cheaper, and they’re easier to procure,” Fortune said. “We’ve been having a very difficult time getting other vehicles, so we are looking forward to trying out these Dodge Durangos.”
Diving in deeper
Another vehicle purchase helped pay for a new Bearcat armored vehicle for the North Tarrant Regional SWAT Team, with the city of Keller paying $80,649. The total cost for a Lenco Bearcat G3 is $386,886, according to the presentation.
The North Tarrant Regional SWAT Team is comprised of Colleyville, Southlake, Keller, Trophy Club and Roanoke, and features 36 team members from those five police departments.
The existing armored vehicle is a military vehicle, and this new vehicle will be more conducive to police work, Fortune said.
“It was an MRAP [mine-resistant ambush protected], a military vehicle that the Department of Defense gave us for free,” Fortune said. “The size of it and the maneuverability, it is not built for civilian law enforcement in our community. It was built for military campaigns somewhere else.”
A closer look
The police department is also replacing the portable and mobile radios, which have reached the end of their life cycle, Fortune said. This budget would purchase 45 radios for $225,000. Fortune said after this purchase, the city would have replaced all 138 radios in the past three years.
The budget includes $215,000 for year two of a five-year contract for the Axon body cameras and fleet cameras for vehicles. The contract is a little more than $1.1 million.
What else
The Northeast Tarrant County Radio Consortium includes Colleyville, Bedford, Euless, Grapevine, Keller and Southlake. Each city contributes to infrastructure upgrades, and a trunked radio system upgrade is required by 2026, Fortune said. Netco maintains the trunked radio systems for police and fire departments in the cities.
Funding the upgrades in the fiscal year 2024-25 budget will give the cities a 10% discount, meaning the equal cost for the cities will be $161,218.
The background
The CCPD was originally funded in 2001 by voters who approved a 3/8-cent sales tax dedicated to the police department to expand police facilities, purchase vehicles and fund police accreditation programs, according to the presentation.
The initial police facility expansion was paid off in five years, and in February, council approved a $5.07 million renovation for the department, which was in the fiscal year 2023-24 CCPD budget.
Keller voters approved 15-year extensions on the tax in 2006 and 2021. The take is now 1/4 of a cent. The jail and animal adoption center has been added due to the tax, according to the presentation.
The annual debt payment for the adoption center and jail is $528,600—though Southlake and Colleyville contributed toward that total with $11,000 and $9,000, respectively, according to documents.
