What is Driving Budget Allocations In The Asheville Police Department?
Roan Church | February 8, 2024
The Asheville City police department has been seeing an increasing overhaul in the last year, and it looks like this trend might continue in 2024, as stated in this year’s budget.
In 2023, the Asheville Police Department (APD) faced many scheduling dilemmas due to being understaffed. However, they received huge pay and budget increases from the city. Buncombe County continues to discuss raising the budget still this year.
So why are the rates being increased, and what will this look like in 2024?
In the 2022-23 period, there were many changes regarding the budget. On May 9th, 2023 the Asheville presentation on budgets was held, and it was announced that the budget would see a possible 13% increase, meaning an additional $4 million would be directed towards APD.
This compensation was enacted due to the 40 vacant spots in the APD and this increase consisted of roughly $1 million total allocated to police pay and an overall $2 million budget increase for the department.
The APD is the second largest general fund spender, right behind the Asheville Fire Department (AFD). The 2023-24 year budget increase is estimated to impact the APD more than the AFD, meaning the budget increase is likely to go toward the police department.
So why are the millions being reallocated to the APD?
The APD has been low-staffed for some time. The employee numbers have been dropping since the start of 2022, and the staff shortage is expected to continue. However, according to the Asheville budget conference last October, the recent bump in budget offers incentives for potential new officers and allows incentive pay for currently employed officers.
It is estimated that a city the size of Asheville should have roughly 200 actively employed officers. As of a few months ago, the city had approximately 140. This is a 30% deficit and, as mentioned above, this number is on track to continue to go up.
In 2022 the Asheville police chief forum had roughly “238 sworn officers with 63 non-sworn professionals”. From the current employment of 140 officers, this is a loss of 41% from the 2022-23 year.
This trend is far from recent: as of 2020, there were 314 sworn-in officers.
This decrease in officers from the 2020-21 year was most likely due to APD downsizing in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. However, it still does not explain the continual decrease in officers in recent years.
The city of Asheville's proposed budget plan, after seeing this decline in police officer employment numbers, is hoping that a fiscal increase allows for better-paying overtime for police officers on call or working more hours than usual due to the insufficient number of officers in the county.
How long can this lack of officers last before there are repercussions? And will this budget keep increasing?
Looking at the crime statistics in Buncombe County, a drastic drop has been happening over the last year with the North Carolina SBI (State Bureau of Investigation) releasing the reports in October 2023 talking about the decrease of crime by 15% this last period. The APD talks about how they have seen a decrease, however, this decrease only totals 1% in the city according to the SBI. Additionally, the APD states that Asheville and Buncombe County in general are likely to see a decrease in crime through the next period and will most likely continue to see a rise in budget for the police department.
What does the community have to say in response to all of these changes to the APD?
With many forum posts and responses to new articles discussing the budget, some claim that these budget changes are sustainable for the community, and having them relocated to other services would prove much more useful for Buncombe County.
However, some believe that the APD should receive more funding due to the lack of sworn-in officers.
Over the last four years, the rising topic of police, as well as the ethical and moral values of the Asheville community as a whole, has been debated extensively. It is crucial that community members remain informed about local government— personal opinions notwithstanding — due to its direct impact on them and those around them. From increased budget to decreased crime, the taxpayers of this region need to decide how to approach issues. The conversation surrounding what should come next for our community is one that everyone should be a part of. So, keep informed and stay safe.