The city reduced its combined police overtime allocations for Crandall, Heartland, Eastland, and Wildcat Ranch from $28,918 to $15,500.
Crandall entered the 2025–2026 fiscal year with substantially less money budgeted for police overtime than it had allocated one year earlier, although the reductions do not necessarily mean officers worked fewer overtime hours.
The city’s adopted FY2026 budget allocated a combined $15,500 for four police overtime accounts covering Crandall and three contract-service areas: Heartland, Eastland, and Wildcat Ranch.
Those same four accounts received a combined $28,918 in the FY2025 budget. That represents a year-over-year reduction of $13,418, or approximately 46.4%.
The largest percentage reduction was assigned to Wildcat Ranch, where the overtime allocation fell by more than 70%. Eastland received the smallest percentage reduction.
Overtime Reductions by Service Area
| Police service area | FY2025 budget | FY2026 budget | Reduction | Percent reduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Crandall | $9,734 | $6,500 | $3,234 | 33.2% |
| Heartland | $9,734 | $5,000 | $4,734 | 48.6% |
| Eastland | $2,625 | $2,000 | $625 | 23.8% |
| Wildcat Ranch | $6,825 | $2,000 | $4,825 | 70.7% |
| Combined total | $28,918 | $15,500 | $13,418 | 46.4% |
Crandall’s regular police overtime account declined from $9,734 to $6,500.
Heartland’s allocation fell from $9,734 to $5,000, while Eastland’s allocation decreased from $2,625 to $2,000.
Wildcat Ranch experienced the steepest reduction. Its police overtime budget dropped from $6,825 to $2,000, a decrease of $4,825. The reductions appeared in Crandall’s proposed FY2026 budget and were carried into the city’s adopted budget without changes.
Budgeted Overtime Exceeded Projected Spending
The year-over-year budget comparison tells only part of the story.
Crandall’s FY2026 overtime allocations were lower than the amounts budgeted for FY2025, but they remained substantially higher than the city’s projected FY2025 overtime expenses.
The FY2025 budget document included year-end projections based on financial activity recorded through May. Those projections estimated combined overtime spending of $6,929 across the four accounts:
- Crandall: $4,856
- Heartland: $874
- Eastland: $666
- Wildcat Ranch: $533
The combined FY2026 allocation of $15,500 was $8,571 higher than that projection. In other words, the city reduced the overtime budget compared with the previous year’s authorization, while still providing more than twice the amount it projected it would spend.
Each individual FY2026 overtime account also exceeded its corresponding FY2025 projection.
Crandall budgeted $6,500 after projecting $4,856 in regular police overtime expenses. Heartland received $5,000 after a projection of $874, while Eastland and Wildcat Ranch each received $2,000 after respective projections of $666 and $533.
The numbers suggest the city brought its overtime allocations closer to recent spending patterns while retaining additional capacity for unexpected staffing needs. However, the budget does not provide a written explanation for the reductions, and the financial tables alone do not establish the city’s reasoning.
Overall Police Budget Increased
The overtime reductions were not part of an overall reduction in the Police Department’s budget.
Crandall’s adopted budget increased total Police Department expenses from $3.23 million in FY2025 to approximately $3.78 million in FY2026. That was an increase of $553,596, or approximately 17.1%.
Several police salary accounts also increased, including the regular Crandall, Heartland, Eastland, and Wildcat Ranch salary allocations.
That distinction is important. A smaller overtime allocation does not automatically represent fewer officers, fewer patrol hours, or reduced police services. It means the city authorized less spending within four specific overtime accounts while increasing the department’s overall financial plan.
What the Numbers Do Not Show
A budget establishes how much money the city authorizes for a particular purpose. It does not show how much ultimately will be spent.
Actual overtime can be affected by vacancies, employee leave, major investigations, special events, court appearances, emergency calls, training schedules, and the need to cover shifts when regularly assigned officers are unavailable.
Crandall also may amend its budget or transfer money between eligible accounts if overtime expenses exceed the original allocation.
A complete evaluation of the FY2026 reductions will require actual year-end spending figures. Until those numbers are available, the budget shows that Crandall planned for substantially less police overtime than it authorized the previous year—not that overtime work or police coverage necessarily declined.
