Mayor Jacob Frey proposes to stop paying Minneapolis cops double for overtime

Mayor Jacob Frey is expected to propose ending “double-time” overtime pay for cops next year as part of his proposed 2026 city budget Wednesday.

Since fall 2022, the Minneapolis Police Department has been paying officers “double time” — twice their hourly rate rather than the traditional time and a half — for certain shifts, or what it calls “critical staffing overtime,” to cover staffing gaps.

Officers can get double time if they volunteer to work short-staffed or less desirable shifts, like bar closing time. But this lucrative overtime pay has pushed the city’s overtime costs sky-high: Last year, MPD spent a record $28 million on overtime — $12 million over budget.

According to Frey’s office, he has the power to end the double-pay provision without a vote by the police union or city council.

Ending double time will save the city about $3.64 million a year, according to the mayor’s office. The move is one of several cost-cutting measures Frey is expected to announce when he lays out his budget proposal in a speech Wednesday.

Frey said in a statement to the Star Tribune on Tuesday that double overtime began in response to a staffing crisis, but now that the department is growing its ranks, the city can afford to return to normal overtime pay of time and a half.

“It’s a fiscally responsible move that saves taxpayers over $3.64 million without compromising the safety of our streets,” he said.

The police force shrank from about 900 officers before Floyd’s death to 560 in the spring of 2024, the fewest in at least four decades.

To help stop the hemorrhaging, Police Chief Brian O’Hara pushed for $18,000 retention bonuses and historic 22% police raises, including retroactive back pay, boosting starting salaries above $90,000 a year — higher than some of the nation’s largest police departments. The new contract, plus back pay, pushed 35 MPD employees’ total earnings past $300,000 last year.

The police ranks have since rebounded, recently surpassing 600 sworn officers, with the largest police academy class since the 1990s. The department now has 614 officers and recruits.

O’Hara said in a statement Tuesday that MPD is finally seeing momentum in rebuilding its ranks, although there’s still work to do.

“This is a marathon, not a sprint, and we remain committed to providing the same high level of service our community expects and deserves while finding ways to support our officers in the tough job they do every day,” he said.

The president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, Sherral Schmidt, did not respond to a request for comment .

Every day, some level of overtime — some of it mandatory — is worked by police just to staff shifts in all five precincts. Last year, officers working overtime accounted for about 40% of shifts, according to MPD.

Officers also get overtime to work on a juvenile curfew task force and late-night safety plan in the downtown area, Dinkytown and the Fifth Precinct.

There’s no cap on overtime pay for officers, who are allowed to work up to 16 hours a day. That has led to big bucks for some officers: 11 MPD employees last year made more than $200,000 in overtime alone, according to a Star Tribune analysis last month.

One officer, Lt. Robert Berry, earned more than $295,000 in overtime last year, pushing his total income to around a half-million dollars.