San Diego Police Department Brings Overtime on Budget in Mid-Year Report
For the first time in over a decade, the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) announced that it expects to meet its Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 overtime budget.
The FY2026 Mid-Year Budget Monitoring Report, presented yesterday at the City Council’s Budget & Government Efficiency Committee Meeting, projects SDPD’s non-cost-recoverable overtime to be in budget, with $3.4 million in overages largely attributed to reimbursable activities such as special events, increased traffic enforcement and reimbursable grant work.
“This reduction didn’t happen by chance. We knew that if we were going to cut overtime costs, we needed to take a hard look at how we track and manage those funds,” Police Chief Scott Wahl said. “This progress reflects months of planning, discipline and oversight by all of our command staff. I am grateful to have a team that is committed to being fiscally responsible while continuing to provide the highest level of service to San Diegans.”
Over the course of FY2026, the department has worked to reduce and rein in overtime expenses by implementing tighter oversight, creating a dedicated team to prioritize scheduled staffing coverage and making data-driven decisions for how overtime is assigned across the various police units.
“This administration has prioritized fiscal discipline across City departments, and SDPD’s progress in controlling overtime, which has historically been one of the most challenging expense categories, is emblematic of that,” Mayor Todd Gloria said. “I commend Chief Wahl and his team at SDPD for managing their budget wisely, especially during this critical budget time.”
If mid-year projections hold steady and barring any unforeseen events in San Diego requiring police overtime, this would be the first time in over a decade that the department has seen a year-over-year decrease in overtime expenditures. Fiscal Year 2021 is noted as an outlier year due to the global pandemic. See the table below for a breakdown:
| Fiscal Year | Adopted Budget | Actuals |
| 2017 | $ 20,997,071 | $ 26,037,390 |
| 2018 | $ 26,321,017 | $ 29,695,922 |
| 2019* | $ 24,570,000 | $ 31,939,140 |
| 2020* | $ 32,062,338 | $ 44,829,442 |
| 2021* | $ 38,104,813 | $ 37,246,028 |
| 2022 | $ 30,678,213 | $ 40,906,561 |
| 2023 | $ 40,162,474 | $ 50,818,779 |
| 2024 | $ 49,337,051 | $ 57,260,763 |
| 2025 | $ 46,373,409 | $ 55,155,063 |
| 2026** | $ 45,264,269 | $ 48,619,500 (projected) |
*Includes General Fund and Seized Assets Funds.
**Actuals are assumed based on the FY2026 Mid-Year Projection
San Diego Police continues to be one of the lowest-staffed, big-city police departments relative to population, making overtime a critical resource used to sustain service levels, maintain response times and support special operations.
For more information, review the FY2026 Mid-Year Budget Monitoring Report.