With a budget crisis of up to $12 million looming, Erie City Council and Mayor Daria Devlin’s administration want to start talking about the Erie Bureau of Police’s budget for 2027.
A City Council study session on that issue is scheduled for Sept. 10 at 5:30 p.m. in the Bagnoni Council Chambers at City Hall, 626 State St.
Both council members and Devlin’s team want to start talking about expenses and finances regarding police — things like technology/equipment needs, wages, benefits and overtime pay — in large part because the police bureau’s budget is one of the largest components of the city’s general fund budget each year.
The Erie Bureau of Police’s budget in 2026 is $43.4 million, which is 39% of the $110.1 million general fund budget total.
An Erie Bureau of Police cruiser is shown at city hall in Erie on July 19, 2022.
The Sept. 10 study session can be viewed on Facebook and YouTube.
Previous coverage: Why the city of Erie is wrestling with a $12 million budget deficit
Public safety finances
City Council President Tyler Titus told council members at a Sept. 2 caucus meeting that the panel should “start sooner rather than later” when it comes to reviewing financial projections for 2027, largely because of the city’s fiscal crisis.
Erie Mayor Daria Devlin speaks to Erie School District teachers, staff and administrators during a district convocation at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., on Aug. 18, 2026. More than 1,500 ESD personnel gathered for a pep-rally atmosphere and guest speakers including current and former students.
Devlin did not provide details but said her administration will present a draft of the police bureau’s 2027 budget at the Sept. 10 meeting.
Devlin’s administration is now crafting the overall city budget proposal for 2027. The spending plan will be Devlin’s first as mayor and is expected to be presented to City Council in sometime in October.
Councilwoman Kathy Schaaf said the early look at the police bureau’s budget is important “since they take up such a significant percentage of our budget… We pay for outfitting our officers, overtime, travel for investigations, their educational training sessions, updated equipment and technology that goes along with providing safety to our community.”
Kathy Schaaf is shown at the Erie Times-News on Oct. 12, 2017.
Schaaf said she expects the study session to address police overtime; sick pay; supplies; insurance; community policing; and various other aspects of what the bureau does.
Further, Schaaf said such meetings are important in terms of transparency and context for citizens.
“In my opinion the average person living in our community doesn’t fully understand the entire scope of the cost (of public safety),” Schaaf said. “Study sessions give the community a window.”
The city’s fiscal crisis
Philadelphia-based consulting firm Public Financial Management Inc. and Devlin announced in April that the city is facing a general fund budget deficit exceeding $12 million in 2027 unless major financial changes are made.
PFM has been hired by the city as its state-required consultant for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s Strategic Management Planning Program. Devlin’s administration is leaning heavily on the firm to help navigate the fiscal crisis.
The budget hole is due to a variety of factors, including pension costs; dwindling one-time monies; rising employee-related costs, and stagnant revenues.
Devlin also told City Council that PFM’s director, Gordon Mann, will be in Erie on Sept. 24 to publicly present the firm’s full financial report, which will include specific recommendations on how to best deal with the budget deficit.
Gordon Mann, director of the Philadelphia-based consulting firm Public Financial Management, talks with city of Erie officials May 14 during a public study session on a $12 million budget deficit the city faces.
Mann told the Erie Times-News in a recent interview that PFM has recommended to Devlin that the city include a significant tax increase in the 2027 budget, one that will generate somewhere between $3 million and $6 million in revenue.
Increase likely: Why Erie residents could pay higher property taxes in 2027
Devlin told the Times-News that while the size of any proposed tax increase has yet to be determined, “I don’t see a path that we can proceed (on) for 2027 without a tax increase.”
Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on X at@ETNflowers.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: What Erie police budget talks could reveal about the city’s fiscal crisis