The Police Department faces the Council's budget committee today after overspending its budget by $520.5 million over three years
WTTW's tally covers 2023 to 2025. Overtime is the biggest driver, and alderpersons have spent a year asking for district-by-district numbers. Here is what they asked last time, and what they were told.
The Chicago Police Department goes before the City Council's Committee on Budget and Government Operations today, Oct. 28, to defend its 2027 budget. It does so after spending $520.5 million more than the Council approved from 2023 through 2025, WTTW reported Wednesday.
Why it matters: the Police Department has one of the largest budgets in City government, and when it overspends, the rest of the budget has to cover the difference. Overspending in one department leaves less room for everything else the City's operating budget pays for.
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The numbers so far
- 2025: the Department spent $162.5 million more than its Council-approved budget, its fifth straight year over budget, WTTW found in a City analysis.
- Overtime in 2026: the City spent $224.4 million on police overtime in the first nine months of this year, 12% more than the overtime budget for the whole year, WTTW reported from the City's watchdog data.
- Last December: the Council rejected an effort to rein in police overtime, and the Mayor then imposed new limits of his own, WTTW reported.
On Monday, budget officials told the committee the 2027 plan keeps 368 officer positions frozen and converts 132 to civilian jobs, as we reported.
What our records add
Last year's hearing. At the Department's Nov. 5, 2025 budget hearing, the Council's Office of Financial Analysis summarized a $2.1 billion budget that doubled the overtime line from $100 million to $200 million, according to our meeting notes. Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) asked what was driving the increase (watch at 50:16). Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) asked the superintendent's view of a management ordinance provision giving the Council authority over overtime above the budgeted amount (watch at 1:13:23). Members also asked about attrition, vacancies and the pending workforce allocation study.
The first-quarter check-in. At a joint Budget and Police and Fire hearing on May 5, 2026, the Department reported an estimated $55.7 million in first-quarter overtime and said non-reimbursable overtime was down about 9.4% from a year earlier, according to our meeting notes. Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) asked how the quarter compared with the annual overtime budget (watch at 1:07:40). Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) asked why the 11th District and Area 4 consistently run high overtime and asked for year-over-year district comparisons in future reports (watch at 1:25:23). Members asked for district and event breakdowns and standardized overtime codes.
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What to listen for today. Whether the Department brings the district-level overtime figures members asked for in May; how the 2027 overtime line compares with this year's spending pace; and how many officers the Department has now, a number officials did not have at Monday's hearing when Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) asked.
What's next
- Today, 9:30 a.m.: the Police Department, then the Department of Public Health. Video and transcript will be posted on the meeting page.
- Nov. 5: the Office of Public Safety Administration and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, with Fire and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
- Nov. 10: the Police Board and the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.
The full schedule is in our budget hearing guide.