MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Minneapolis Police Overtime Overrun Nears $23 Million as Frey Defends Spending

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is defending police overtime expenditures after the department’s reported overtime overrun approached $23 million. The mayor argues that paying overtime remains less expensive than immediately restoring the department to its 2020 staffing level, but the growing cost is expected to receive scrutiny during the city’s upcoming budget process.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (August 7, 2026). The Minneapolis Police Department’s reported overtime overrun is approaching $23 million, raising new questions about police staffing, emergency response demands and the accuracy of the city’s public-safety budgeting.

Mayor Jacob Frey addressed the spending Thursday as city leaders prepared for another budget debate. Minneapolis budgeted approximately $2.3 million for police overtime in 2026, according to figures reported by CBS News Minnesota.

The amount now attributed to overtime above the original budget is nearly 10 times that allocation.

At least $3 million of the additional expense was connected to officers working during Operation Metro Surge, the extended federal immigration enforcement operation that brought protests and heightened public-safety demands to the Minneapolis area.

Frey says overtime filled a staffing gap

Frey defended the spending by arguing that overtime was necessary to maintain police services with a department that remains below its previous staffing level.

Minneapolis currently has roughly 630 police officers. The department had approximately 888 officers in 2020.

The mayor said paying existing officers to work additional hours costs the city less than immediately employing, training and supporting a force of 888 officers. He also emphasized that rebuilding the department remains a longer-term goal.

That explanation presents overtime as a temporary operational tool, but the size of the overrun suggests that the city’s staffing shortage and police workload have become recurring budget pressures.

According to the department, officers responded to more than 50,000 calls during December, January and February, a period that included heightened demonstrations and demands related to Operation Metro Surge.

Budget questions remain unanswered

Frey is expected to present his next city budget proposal in the coming week. He has not yet detailed how the overtime expenses could affect property taxes, departmental spending or the size of the city workforce.

The Minneapolis City Council is expected to examine the spending as part of its oversight and budget responsibilities.

Key questions include whether the original overtime allocation reflected realistic operational needs, how much extraordinary events contributed to the overrun and whether continued reliance on overtime can be sustained without affecting officer fatigue or other city services.

Overtime can help a department cover immediate shifts, major investigations and unplanned emergencies. Consistently high overtime expenses, however, may indicate that staffing and budget assumptions do not reflect the department’s actual workload.

Council scrutiny expected

The City Council is scheduled to meet next Thursday. Members could seek additional information about how the overtime was authorized, which assignments accounted for the greatest expenses and how the city intends to control future costs.

Frey’s position is that the additional spending allowed Minneapolis to provide necessary public-safety coverage while the department remained short-staffed. That argument is expected to be weighed against concerns about transparency, budgeting and the long-term cost of operating with hundreds fewer officers than the city employed in 2020.

The approaching budget proposal should provide the first clearer indication of whether Minneapolis intends to increase the police overtime allocation, accelerate hiring or make changes elsewhere to cover the overrun.

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