Fort Worth taxpayers shelled out roughly $25 million for police overtime in the 2025 fiscal year, a tab that city leaders now openly say cannot keep climbing. New Police Chief Eddie García is rolling out an aggressive recruiting and training push that he hopes will cut those payouts and relieve burnout among officers who have been racking up extra shifts. The spike in overtime has reignited a City Hall debate over how to juggle staffing, training and community policing priorities without blowing the budget.
Payroll documents reviewed by Fort Worth Report show overtime costs hit about $25 million in FY2025, roughly $5 million more than the year before. Dozens of police employees made more than $50,000 in overtime, and two of them actually took home more in overtime than in base pay. The records flag several six-figure overtime hauls, including an officer listed at about $125,000 in overtime and a sergeant near $137,000, and note that the city’s 2025 budget set aside roughly $287 million for police salaries and benefits, according to Fort Worth Report.
Recruiting Drive Aims To Cut Overtime
To chip away at those numbers, García and top city officials have thrown their weight behind a very visible recruitment campaign, including a department video that features the mayor and city manager. The department reported nearly 3,952 applications in 2025 and has roughly 1,728 of its 1,906 budgeted officer positions filled, a surge that city leaders hope will eventually mean fewer forced overtime shifts, according to Police1.
Chief’s Timeline And Targets…