Office of Public Safety Administration – BGA Policy 2025 Budget Snapshot

The Office of Public Safety Administration was created by the Lightfoot administration and announced as a cost-saving initiative, with stated goals at its launch of:

• Redirecting uniformed police officers and firefighters from desk roles in headquarters to active field roles
• Consolidating civilian staff from the finance, human resources, information technology and logistics divisions of CFD, CPD and OEMC into the new department
• Providing data analysis for overtime management at and working to develop long-term strategies to decrease overtime

A 2022 BGA Policy investigation found that the department in its first three years of budgets did not reduce public safety costs, with non-personnel cost increases outweighing the savings from reduced public safety positions. The proposed 2025 budget would continue that trend, with appropriations in categories shared by OPSA and CFD/CPD/OEMC rising both for OPSA and for the other three public safety service departments, rather than seeing a decrease in CFD/CPD/OEMC as OPSA takes on public safety related appropriations.

Departmental Highlights

Snapshot: Appropriation & Staffing Changes from 2024 Budget

• Appropriations to OPSA have not been matched with equivalent (or in many cases any) reductions in other emergency service department budgets. Including the proposed 2025 budget, OPSA appropriations in categories it shares with CFD/CPD/OEMC have risen at an average rate of 4.5% annually since 2021, while combined CFD/CPD/OEMC appropriations in the same categories have risen at an average rate of 4.1% annually.
• Several titles that were budgeted for a single position in the 2024 budget have been eliminated and not replaced with retitling, including positions for a Chief Performance Analyst, Contracts Administrator, Project Coordinator, and Associate Staff Attorney.
• Salaries and wages on payroll are OPSA's largest single-category appropriation. OPSA also has large appropriations in several non-personnel categories related to IT and communications infrastructure, including IT maintenance, software maintenance and licensing, IT development, rental equipment and services, mobile communications services, and telephone maintenance categories.
• Salaries and wages on payroll are down slightly (-3.9%) in the proposed budget, while outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation saw a -62.5% cut of -$24.9 million.
• The proposed budget includes large OPSA increases in the repair/maintenance of equipment and telephone maintenance categories, up $1.1 million (40.1%) and $2 million (52.2%) respectively.
  

Historical Context

The Office of Public Safety Administration was created in Lori Lightfoot's first budget, and launched as a full and independently functioning department by 2021. The 2020 OPSA budget was something of a placeholder, without fully-fleshed appropriation and position totals, making 2021 the first benchmark year for the department's subsequent growth.

From 2021-2024, the department budget grew at an average rate of 11.7% per year, one of the highest rates of growth for a department not receiving federal pandemic relief funds.

Departmental budgets overall increased an average of 10.8% per year over the same time period, largely due to an influx of federal pandemic relief funds, while the total city budget including Finance General appropriations grew at an average rate of 11.9% annually.

OPSA headcount increased at an average rate of 3.4% annually from 2021-2024, faster than the overall citywide increase of 2.0% annually during the same time period.

Emergency Department Cost Savings

As a cost-saving measure, OPSA's budget history does not demonstrate savings in the pre-existing emergency services departments from which it took over services.

2023 was the only year since OPSA's introduction in which appropriations budgeted by OPSA saw an overall reduction in the city's other emergency services departments (CFD, CPD, and OEMC). The proposed 2025 budget, as in the year before, continues to see costs rising both in OPSA and in the other emergency services departments across the same appropriation categories.

​​Including the proposed 2025 budget, OPSA appropriations in categories it shares with CFD/CPD/OEMC have risen at an average rate of 4.5% annually since 2021, while combined CFD/CPD/OEMC appropriations in the same categories have risen at an average rate of 4.1% annually.

In addition to shared categories, OPSA makes a number of appropriations that are not part of the CFD, CPD, or OEMC budgets, adding to the overall cost of operating as an independent department.

As a cost-savings issue, this is as much a question or issue for CFD, CPD, and OEMC as it is for OPSA: with the new department taking on increasing appropriations in specific categories, there is an expectation of downward pressure on those same appropriations in the departments from which OPSA is taking over responsibilities. Apart from the dip in 2023, city budgets are thus far not showing signs of that impact.

Staffing

OPSA is down a net four budgeted positions in the proposed 2025 budget. Several titles that were budgeted for a single position in the 2024 budget have been eliminated and not replaced with retitling, including positions for a Chief Performance Analyst, Contracts Administrator, Project Coordinator, and Associate Staff Attorney.

Appropriations

Overall OPSA appropriations are down -8.8%, with major decreases in federal and local/private grant appropriations exceeding a 5.8% increase in appropriations from the emergency communication fund.

Largest Appropriations

Salaries and wages on payroll are OPSA's largest single-category appropriation. OPSA also has large appropriations in several non-personnel categories related to IT and communications infrastructure, including IT maintenance, software maintenance and licensing, IT development, rental equipment and services, mobile communications services, and telephone maintenance categories.

Change from Previous Year

Salaries and wages on payroll are down slightly (-3.9%) in the proposed budget, while outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation saw a -62.5% cut of -$24.9 million.

The proposed budget includes large OPSA increases in the repair/maintenance of equipment and telephone maintenance categories, up $1.1 million (40.1%) and $2 million (52.2%) respectively.

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