Lago Vista budgets $0 for a $279,000-a-year police overtime plan

Lago Vista's adopted 2026-27 budget sets police overtime at $0, the same as last year.^1,2 Yet the budget letter keeps a police overtime plan, with no new money for it.³ The council adopted the budget 4 to 3 on Sept. 17.^4,5,6 Police Chief Ron Joy told the City Council on Aug. 24 that a full year of that overtime would cost $279,000.^7,8

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A wooden wall rack of brass key hooks, most of them bare and three holding patrol-car keys on navy lanyards, beside a blank-faced desk clock and a stack of folders. AI illustration. — AI illustration. Image credits.

He said he was already paying for it with "vacant salary money," the pay budgeted for jobs nobody holds.^7,9 The budget book shows $90,902 already spent on overtime in its undated fiscal 2026 "actual" column.¹ Joy said he would ask for a budget amendment, a vote to add money, once the department is fully staffed.⁷ He counted five open jobs on Aug. 24 and six on Sept. 3.^7,10

The budget cuts the line named "Police Officers" by $92,000, or 10.97%, to $746,687.¹ The whole department gets $3,679,655 from the General Fund, the city's main operating fund, down 2.35%.¹¹

What the pay lines are and who decides

A city budget lists money in lines, and each line has a number and a name.¹ The budget year, called a fiscal year, runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.⁵ Fiscal 2027 is the 2026-27 budget.³

The council adopts the budget.⁵ The city manager may move money that is neither spent nor already committed among lines inside one department. The city manager must tell the council in writing within two weeks when that happens.¹²

A vacancy is a budgeted job with nobody in it.⁷ The city's undated police web page says the department has 21 sworn officers and 11 civilian employees, and we have not confirmed either figure.¹³

Our budget story and our Sept. 25 story covered the adoption and the failed cuts.⁴ This story looks at what the budget does to police pay and overtime.¹

Aug. 24, the chief asks to keep overtime

The council held a special called meeting, one set apart from its regular meetings, on Aug. 24 at 1:01 p.m.¹⁴ Joy was also acting city manager then, and he spoke in both roles.^7,8 He went through three "decision packages," which are staff requests to add money or staff to the budget.¹⁵

The first would add a school resource officer (SRO), an officer stationed at a school. Joy said the school district pays 71.5% of that officer's pay and benefits, which leaves about $43,000 for the city. The second would hire a certified animal control officer. Council Member Paul Prince said the full $155,000 for that job would fall to the city.¹⁵

The third was the overtime project. Joy said it builds in ten hours of overtime every two weeks for each officer. He said that, with a full roster, those hours equal one full-time employee without the cost of benefits. He said he had already started the project and was paying for it out of vacant salary money.⁹

Joy said council had asked for a 5% cut to his budget and that he found a 6% cut to pay for the plan.⁹ Then he spoke as acting city manager. "I have five vacancies," he said. He asked council to approve "the concept" but "don't approve the money."⁷

He said, "You've already given me salary money for a fully staffed department." Once the department is fully staffed, he said, he would return with a budget amendment. He said the overtime would not cost $279,000 then, because only the months left in the fiscal year would be paid.⁷

City Council special called meeting, August 24, 2026, from 1:32:08 to 1:33:48 in the city's video. Trimmed only at the start and end. Watch the full meeting from this moment. Video credits.

Council Member Adam Benefield said, "I love the overtime package program." He said it saves administrative costs and lets officers earn more, so they are not working side jobs. Council Member Karen Van Ness said it gets officers down to nine hour shifts. She said she knew Joy had made that a priority, to make shifts "a lot safer for them."¹⁶

Van Ness then asked whether Joy still meant to hire an experienced, certified animal control officer or someone who could become certified. Joy said the department is "so shorthanded." He said the department had worked ten hour shifts for a short time. "We've had to go back to 12 hour shifts, which I don't like," he said, and he called them "unsafe."¹⁷

City Council special called meeting, August 24, 2026, from 1:37:41 to 1:38:43 in the city's video. Trimmed only at the start and end. Watch the full meeting from this moment. Video credits.

Council members also discussed limits on how vacancy money is used. Prince said he did not want to tell staff that personnel money "can be a slush fund." He also said it can be hard to fill jobs.¹⁸

Benefield spoke of "six vacant officers" whose unused pay would fund the programs, one more than Joy's count that day.^7,19 Mayor Shane Saum asked for notice at least quarterly on staffing and on how much overtime is being worked.²⁰

Sept. 3, a work session with no vote

On Sept. 3, at a budget work session, a meeting to talk through the budget, Joy said he now had six vacancies, up from five when he presented the packages. He asked the council to agree on the concepts but "wait on the funding." He said he would come back for a budget amendment once he filled the six vacancies.¹⁰

City Council budget work session, September 3, 2026, from 3:49:21 to 3:50:11 in the city's video. Trimmed only at the start and end. Watch the full meeting from this moment. Video credits.

Later in that session, Saum said the budget documents would say the council agrees to "the concept" of Joy's overtime and animal control items. He said it was a work session, so there would be no motion, the formal proposal that starts a vote. He said staff would put the items in the budget if staff could find the money in a balanced budget, and pull items out if not.²¹

City Council budget work session, September 3, 2026, from 4:30:07 to 4:31:13 in the city's video. Trimmed only at the start and end. Watch the full meeting from this moment. Video credits.

Sept. 17, the budget vote

The council held a regular meeting on Sept. 17 in its chambers at 5803 Thunderbird.⁶ Mayor Pro Tem Norma Owen, who fills in for the mayor, moved to adopt the budget, and Prince seconded.^4,5,6 Owen, Prince, Van Ness, and Council Member Jess Hall voted yes. Saum, Benefield, and Council Member Amanda Chavarria voted no.⁴

The budget letter lists the police overtime plan, an "Animal control officer/SRO," and a school resource officer among items included "without additional appropriations." That means no new money was set aside for them. Staff must find the money inside existing department budgets.³ On Aug. 24, Joy had said the animal control officer would also be certified to work as a school resource officer.¹⁵

Sept. 25, the overtime plan as an example

The council held a special called meeting on Sept. 25 at 4 p.m.²² Prince said the council had approved projects without setting money aside, betting the city would underspend elsewhere. He said that came to just over $900,000 in General Fund projects. He cited the police overtime plan as an example. He said Joy told council he could fund it out of his budget because he was having a hard time hiring officers.²³

Prince said the city spent about $1.5 million less than it budgeted for staff, which he called headcount, in fiscal 2025. Counting the golf course, he said, it was almost $1.7 million, and the police department had a shortfall in headcount.²³

Oct. 1, Joy becomes interim city manager

The council held a regular meeting on Oct. 1.²⁴ Owen moved to appoint Joy interim city manager, and Benefield seconded.^25,26 The council approved it by voice vote, and the chair said, "It is approved unanimously."²⁵

Joy said his first act as interim city manager was to appoint Assistant Chief Thomas Franco as acting chief of the police department.^8,27 Our Oct. 4 story also reported the appointment.²⁷ The council's Oct. 15 agenda includes an item to ratify, or formally approve, Franco as interim police chief.²⁶

What the budget book shows

The overtime line, which the book numbers 1274, was $108,687 in fiscal 2023, $83,587 in fiscal 2024, and $80,561 in fiscal 2025. The book shows $0 for overtime in the fiscal 2026 and 2027 budgets.¹ The fiscal 2026 budget book lists $60,000 as the overtime budget for fiscal 2025 and asks for $0 for fiscal 2026.² So the $0 for overtime is not new this year.^1,2

The fiscal 2026 "actual" column shows $90,902 spent on overtime, though that year's overtime budget was $0. The book does not say what date that column runs through.¹

The Police Officers line fell from $838,687 to $746,687. Actual spending in that line was $776,700 in fiscal 2025 and $562,603 in the fiscal 2026 column.¹ Personnel services, the department's pay and benefits total, falls 3.86% to $2,814,556.²⁸

The department's total actual spending in the fiscal 2026 column is $3,164,464, against a $3,768,378 budget. The fiscal 2027 total is $3,679,655. That is $88,723 less than last year's budget.¹¹

What it could mean for taxpayers and for officers' shifts

The Government Finance Officers Association says a budget that meets the legal test of balanced may still not be sustainable if one-time resources pay ongoing costs. It lists salaries and benefits as examples of recurring expenses.²⁹

Here, Joy said he was paying for the overtime with vacant salary money.⁹ He said that once the department is full, he would ask for a budget amendment, and the council could "say yes or no" then. He put a full year of the overtime package at $279,000.⁷ The budget letter says no additional money was set aside for the overtime plan.³

For officers' shifts, Joy said on Aug. 24 that the department had gone back to 12 hour shifts because it was so shorthanded.¹⁷ Van Ness said the overtime plan gets officers down to nine hour shifts.¹⁶ Joy said the department was always seeking officers to fill its vacancies and would try to fill the animal control job "as we get those right people."¹⁷ The city's budget says quarterly financial reports will show budget transfers.¹²

What we could not find

How many sworn officers the department has today, how many jobs are authorized, and how many are open. The latest on-record count is Joy's "six vacancies" on Sept. 3.
How much overtime has been paid since Oct. 1, and how much vacancy money was moved to pay it.
The decision package pages for the overtime, school resource officer, and animal control requests, including the $279,000 figure.
A date for the "actual" column in the budget book.
How the chief's 6% cut matches the 2.35% drop in the adopted total.

What you can do

Ask for the three police decision packages presented on Aug. 24.¹⁵
Ask for the written notices of budget transfers inside the police department, which the budget requires within two weeks.¹²
Speak during citizen comments at the Oct. 15 council meeting.²⁶
Ask the city for the police department's authorized and filled sworn positions, and its overtime paid since Oct. 1, on the city's open records page.
If you have records about this, share them with us.

Podcast transcript

Read the transcript

Host 1. This is the Lago Vista Watchdog briefing. The two voices you are hearing are AI generated. Every fact in this episode is sourced in the full story on our website, and a person validates each story before it is published.

Host 2. Here is the bottom line. Lago Vista's adopted 2026-27 budget sets police overtime at 0 dollars, the same as last year. Yet the budget letter keeps a police overtime plan, with no new money for it, and the budget book shows 90,902 dollars already spent on overtime in its fiscal 2026 actual column. The City Council adopted the budget 4 to 3 on September 17.

Host 1. Police Chief Ron Joy told the council on August 24 that a full year of that overtime would cost 279,000 dollars. He said he was already paying for it with vacant salary money, the pay budgeted for jobs nobody holds.

Host 2. The budget cuts the line named Police Officers by 92,000 dollars, or 10.97 percent, to 746,687 dollars. The whole department gets 3,679,655 dollars from the General Fund, down 2.35 percent. Joy said he would ask for a budget amendment, a vote to add money, once the department is fully staffed. He counted five open jobs on August 24 and six on September 3.

Host 1. Some background. A city budget lists money in lines, and each line has a number and a name. The council adopts the budget. The city manager may move money that is neither spent nor already committed among lines inside one department, and must tell the council in writing within two weeks.

Host 2. The city's undated police web page says the department has 21 sworn officers and 11 civilian employees, and we have not confirmed either figure.

Host 1. Now, in order. On August 24, the council held a special called meeting. Joy was also acting city manager then, and he spoke in both roles. He went through three decision packages, which are staff requests to add money or staff to the budget.

Host 2. The first would add a school resource officer. Joy said the school district pays 71.5 percent of that officer's pay and benefits, which leaves about 43,000 dollars for the city. The second would hire a certified animal control officer. Council Member Paul Prince said the full 155,000 dollars for that job would fall to the city.

Host 1. The third was the overtime project. Joy said it builds in ten hours of overtime every two weeks for each officer. With a full roster, he said, those hours equal one full-time employee without the cost of benefits. He said he had already started the project and was paying for it out of vacant salary money.

Host 2. Then he spoke as acting city manager. He said, "I have five vacancies." He asked council to approve the concept, but, in his words, "don't approve the money." He said, "You've already given me salary money for a fully staffed department."

Host 1. Once the department is fully staffed, he said, he would return with a budget amendment. He said the overtime would not cost 279,000 dollars then, because only the months left in the fiscal year would be paid.

Host 2. Council Member Adam Benefield said, "I love the overtime package program." Council Member Karen Van Ness said it gets officers down to nine hour shifts, which she said Joy had made a priority to make them "a lot safer." Joy said the department is "so shorthanded." "We've had to go back to 12 hour shifts, which I don't like," he said, and he called them "unsafe."

Host 1. Council members also discussed limits on how vacancy money is used. Prince said he did not want to tell staff that personnel money "can be a slush fund." He also said it can be hard to fill jobs. Mayor Shane Saum asked for notice at least quarterly on staffing and on how much overtime is being worked.

Host 2. On September 3, at a budget work session, Joy said he now had six vacancies. He asked the council to agree on the concepts but "wait on the funding." Saum said the budget documents would say the council agrees to the concept of Joy's overtime and animal control items. It was a work session, so there was no vote.

Host 1. On September 17, at a regular meeting in the council chambers, Mayor Pro Tem Norma Owen moved to adopt the budget, and Prince seconded. Owen, Prince, Van Ness, and Jess Hall voted yes. Saum, Benefield, and Amanda Chavarria voted no. The adopted budget letter lists the police overtime plan among items with no additional money set aside, and says staff must find the money inside existing department budgets.

Host 2. On September 25, at a special called meeting, Prince said the council had approved projects without setting money aside, betting the city would underspend elsewhere. He said that came to just over 900,000 dollars in General Fund projects, and he cited the police overtime plan as an example. He said Joy told council he could fund it out of his budget because he was having a hard time hiring officers.

Host 1. On October 1, at a regular meeting, Owen moved to appoint Joy interim city manager, and Benefield seconded. The council approved it by voice vote. Joy said his first act would be to appoint Assistant Chief Thomas Franco as acting chief of the police department. The council's October 15 agenda includes an item to ratify Franco as interim police chief.

Host 2. What does the budget book show? The overtime line was 108,687 dollars in fiscal 2023, 83,587 dollars in fiscal 2024, and 80,561 dollars in fiscal 2025. The book shows 0 dollars for overtime in the fiscal 2026 and 2027 budgets, so the 0 dollars is not new this year. Yet the fiscal 2026 actual column shows 90,902 dollars spent on overtime.

Host 1. The Police Officers line fell from 838,687 dollars to 746,687 dollars. The department's total of 3,679,655 dollars is 88,723 dollars less than last year's budget.

Host 2. What could this mean for taxpayers? The Government Finance Officers Association says a budget that meets the legal test of balanced may still not be sustainable if one-time resources pay ongoing costs. Joy put a full year of the overtime package at 279,000 dollars. He said that once the department is full, he would ask for a budget amendment, and the council could say yes or no then.

Host 1. For officers' shifts, Joy said the department had gone back to 12 hour shifts because it was so shorthanded. Van Ness said the overtime plan gets officers down to nine hour shifts.

Host 2. What we could not find. We could not find how many sworn officers the department has today, how much overtime has been paid since October 1, or the decision package pages with the 279,000 dollar figure.

Host 1. What you can do. Ask the city for the three police decision packages from August 24, and for the department's authorized and filled sworn positions. You can also speak during citizen comments at the October 15 council meeting. Read the full story, with sources, at lagovistawatchdog dot com.

Sources and documents

Every fact in this story comes from the records below. The small numbers in the story point to them. Links go to the exact moment in the meeting video or the page in the document.

See something wrong? Request a correction. Have records on this? Share them with us.