Five city council members have called for an audit of the San Antonio Police Department’s overtime spending, according to a memo obtained by the Current.
District 4 Councilman Edward Mungia spearheaded the effort with council members Teri Castillo (D5), Sukh Kaur (D1), Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) and Ric Galvan (D6) also signing on.
“Given the upcoming discussions at the Public Safety Committee about the hiring of
additional police officers, we ask that an audit be conducted on the San Antonio Police
Department overtime authorizations,” states the memo addressed to City Auditor Buddy Vargas.
The council members signed off on the April 13 memo roughly a month after a San Antonio Current investigation found that SAPD spent double its overtime budget in 2024, to the tune of $34 million.
Some San Antonio police personnel are raking in $100,000 to $200,000 annually in overtime pay alone, according to documents provided to the Current by police accountability group Act 4 SA. In some cases, those payments doubled or nearly tripled their annual salaries.
With overtime and other compensation, one officer made more than $345,000 in 2024 — more than the police chief and more than most of city council combined.
The head of the police union told the Express-News that rising overtime is a direct response to staffing shortages at the department.
“It’s not that we’re trying to be greedy and trying to make more money — it’s just a necessity that’s had to happen here for the last couple of years,” Johnny Perez, president of the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association (SAPOA), told the daily.
Public safety represents the largest chunk of the city’s $4.06 billion general fund in the adopted budget for fiscal 2026, with $631.5 million earmarked for SAPD.
The call for a police overtime audit comes after months of pressure from accountability group Act 4 SA, which laid out its demands as the city entered into contract negotiations with SAPOA.
The city’s budget season is also quickly approaching, and the memo to the city auditor is intended to put it on the calendar for upcoming budget discussions.
The city last audited police overtime in 2020, but that survey merely looked at the tracking, scheduling and processing of overtime payments. The last time the city audited police overtime authorizations before then was the 2006 fiscal year, according to Mungia’s memo.
However, Mungia told the Express-News that this time, he wants a more “holistic” view of overtime, including “who is using what different overtime buckets, what those buckets are for and what’s the cost of that over time.”
Seeking a comprehensive review
Act 4 SA officials said they’re encouraged by movement on the issue after their open records requests, data analysis and meetings with council members. Even so, an audit of overtime isn’t comprehensive enough, according to the group.
“There was definitely a bit of celebration and triumph,” organizer Ananda Tomás told the Current. “We got at least one of the pieces we were asking for pushed through, but at the same time, a little bit of disappointment that it was only talking about overtime when our conversations with council members and the conversations from community to council have been asking for more the entire time.”
Tomás said Act 4 SA seeks a full audit of all compensation, including overtime, benefits, incentives and payouts. The group also wants the audit to include a review of contracts so they can be examined for compliance gaps, financial inefficiencies and operational risks.
“This is fiscal transparency and responsibility at a time when we need it most, as we’re facing a massive budget deficit, as we see federal funding losses and considerations to cut either positions or programs, even locally,” Tomás said. “If we can, through this audit, not only understand better how our public safety dollars are being spent at SAPD, but even uncover wasteful practices that are costing millions of dollars, those millions of dollars can be put back into these other pieces of community programs and departments that also are part of public safety.”
As such, Act 4 SA has compiled a white paper based on audits of other police departments throughout the country. The research shows hundreds of millions of dollars in wasteful spending at those departments, according to the oversight group.
San Francisco found $108 million in excessive overtime spending over the course of 5 years, including $55.6 million in 2023 alone, Tomás said. An audit of the Chicago force found $4.3 million in federal equitable sharing funds with inadequate controls. And examination of Keansburg, New Jersey’s police force found $451,000 in longevity bonuses over 2 years and $95,000 in improper payouts.
The more comprehensive audit of SAPD sought by Act 4 SA also would allow it to fill knowledge gaps it’s been unable to remedy with Freedom of Information Act requests, such as whether there’s evidence of preferential treatment for some on the force.
The average SAPD officer makes $12,000 to $25,000 in overtime annually, according to documents reviewed by the Current, but a select few pull in more than $100,000 in overtime each year.
Act 4 SA also wants the audit to look at federal and state grants and whether that funding compels SAPD to work with agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
However, for now, only overtime is on the agenda.
City budget deficit
Meanwhile, the city is grappling with a $20 million — and growing — deficit, and is considering raising property taxes and implementing utility rate hikes to account for its projected revenue losses.
City expenses are expected to exceed revenue collections as early as fiscal year 2028, which starts Oct. 1, 2027.
Simultaneously, SAPOA is looking to add 65 more officers and increase base pay as it continues contract negotiations with the city. This comes at a time of increasing austerity for most other departments, including Health and Human Services, Parks and Public Works.
With city finances barreling toward a cliff, Act 4 SA also is calling for recurring audits of SAPD overtime spending every three years to “better inform future budgets.”
Mungia’s April letter appears to agree that regular audits of police overtime are needed, noting that other facets of the department are audited periodically, including its property-and-evidence room, off-duty employment, armory inventory management and detention centers.
“We believe an audit on SAPD overtime authorizations should be conducted regularly to ensure fiscal responsibility and most importantly the health and safety of our officers,” states the memo.
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
