Police departments across the country have come under scrutiny in recent months following several high-profile police killings of Black Americans, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Protesters have called for police departments to be defunded. Though definitions for the term varies, many activists call for tax money to be moved out of policing and into social services.
In Austin, city councilmembers voted this summer to cut $150 million from the police department's budget.
RELATED: City council votes to slash $150 million from Austin Police Department, approves city budget
The move prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to consider legislation that would put the city's police under state control. He has also proposed legislation that would permanently take away a city’s annexation powers if city leaders vote to defund police.
The governor had previously proposed legislation that would freeze a city’s property taxes for reducing police budgets.
These two proposals would make it “fiscally impossible” to defund law enforcement, he said.
So, how much do cities spend on police forces?
Police budgets are typically part of a city's "general fund," which includes public services such as police and fire departments, as well as parks and libraries.
Below is a list of 10 of Dallas-Fort Worth's largest cities ranked by what percentage of the general fund is spent on policing in the current fiscal year of 2019-20.
1. Arlington — 44.2%
2. Dallas and Grand Prairie — 36%
4. Fort Worth — 34.6%
5. Garland — 31.2%
6. Irving — 30.2%
7. Denton — 26.4%
8. Frisco — 26.1%
9. McKinney — 25.1%
10. Plano —23.5%
Read on for a more detailed look at each city's police budgets.
Dallas
The city's adopted budget for the fiscal year that ended in September had more than $1.438 billion in its general fund, city budget documents show.
The amended amount for the year will be $1.429 billion, according to the FY 2020-2021 budget proposal. That budget was approved on Wednesday with $1.436 billion in the general fund. The city had planned last year to increase that amount to $1.488 billion but cut that back this year.
Dallas police had a budget of almost $517 million for FY 2019-2020, although its actual budget total is forecast to be around $501 million for the year.
That's around 36% and 35% of the city's general fund, respectively.
The budget was expected to increase for the next fiscal year to more than $542 million, but when the city released its proposed budget earlier this year, that number had decreased to a little more than $516 million.
The city decided to then make a cut from that proposed police budget in a divided final vote on the general fund budget Sept. 23.
The newly-approved budget includes an amendment approved by an 11-4 vote to reduce the overtime portion of the police department's budget by $7 million.
The police department will have a budget of $509 million for FY 2020-21.
That's a little more than 35% of the general fund.
If the planned increases from last year had been proposed, the police budget would have represented more than 36% of that budget.
The proposed budget for the department is then expected to increase to more than $540 million in the planned FY 2021-2022 budget.
Salaries and personnel expenses
The major expense for the department is its personnel services— salaries and other forms of compensation like insurance, pensions and leave have accounted for more than 90% of the police budget in recent years. In FY 2019-2020, the department was budgeted more than $474 million and is forecast to spend more than that at nearly $482 million.
That number is expected to continue to increase, with the originally proposed amount in FY 2020-2021 at more than $493 million and the planned amount above $497 million for 2021-2022.
That's a cut from last year's planned amount for the fiscal year, which had projected more than $499 million in personnel services expenses for the department in FY 2020-2021.
Fort Worth
The city approved a more than $782 million general fund budget for fiscal year 2021 on Tuesday, Sept. 22. It had adopted a general fund budget of nearly $772 million for FY 2020, with an adjust amount of nearly $777 million.
Fort Worth police were given more than $267 million in FY 2020, and with a proposed 2.18% increase, or around $5.6 million, the department's proposed FY 2021 budget was nearly $273 million.
The police department received roughly 34.6% of the general fund in FY 2020, and the proposed budget for FY 2021 allocated around 34.9% of the fund to the department.
Those numbers do not include Fort Worth's Crime Control and Prevention District, which is a separate tax that is used to fund certain initiatives of the police department.
The fund had a budget of more than $85.7 million specifically for the police department in FY 2020, with a slightly smaller working budget of more than $84.2 million for FY 2021.
Salaries and personnel expenses
A large portion of the Fort Worth Police Department's budget goes to paying for its personnel, as is the case for most of the cities on this list.
The department was given more than $235 million for salaries and benefits in FY 2020, and the city's new budget raised that amount to more than $240 million in its proposal, an increase of 2.23%.
Arlington
The city's adopted fiscal year 2021 general fund budget is significantly less than the budget the city adopted for FY 2020, budget documents show, and that includes a large cut to its police budget.
The city is looking at a more than $16 million proposed cut to its general fund year-over-year, with around $249 million being allocated for FY 2021 compared with $265.4 million in FY 2020.
That is, however, after its estimated general fund expenditures for FY 2020 dropped to $248.9 million.
The police department is facing a roughly $7.7 million cut to its budget from FY 2020 to the adopted budget for FY 2021. Patrol operations are likely to be the most affected by the cut, losing a little more than $5 million.
In FY 2020, Arlington budgeted more than $117.4 million for its police department, around 44.2% of the general fund. In the FY 2021 adopted budget, that goes down to a little more than $109.7 million, which is still around 44% of the general fund.
The city also plans to create 18 net new positions within the police department, 15 of which would be officers.
Plano
Plano officials approved a slightly smaller budget for the city's general fund for fiscal year 2020-2021 on Sept. 14, but plan to continue to incrementally increase funding for the police department.
The city's adopted budget would have more than $327 million in the general fund, a decrease of about $6.4 million from the adopted budget in FY 2019-2020, budget documents show.
The city allocated more than $78.5 million for its police department in FY 2019-2020, and plans to raise that amount just slightly in FY 2020-2021 to nearly $79 million.
That's about 23.5% and 24% of each year's budget, respectively.
Salaries and personnel expenses
Around 88% of the police department's budget goes towards salaries and wages, according to budget documents.
Those expenses accounted for more than $69 million in FY 2019-2020 and are planned to be more than $70 million in FY 2020-2021.
Garland
The city's revised fiscal year 2020-2021 general fund budget is a little more than $185.1 million, a slight decrease from its budget of more than $185.4 million for FY 2019-2020, according to budget documents.
Within that, the city has approved a budget of more than $60.5 million for its police department in FY 2020-2021, according to city officials. The approved budget was a little more than $57.8 million in FY 2019-2020, so the proposed budget represents an increase of about 5%.
The police department's budget was about 31.2% of the city's general fund for FY 2019-2020. The proposed budget would raise that to around 32.7%.
Salaries and personnel expenses
Personnel is the main expense of the department, according to the proposed budget.
The city approved more than $52.6 million in expenses associated with that category for FY 2019-2020. This year's proposed budget apportions nearly $54.8 million for personnel.
Irving
The city approved a general fund budget of more than $234 million for fiscal year 2019-2020, budget documents show, and is planning to have a slightly smaller budget of more than $232.8 million for FY 2020-2021.
The police department was allocated nearly $70.7 million for FY 2019-2020, which was about 30.2% of the year's general fund budget.
In its 2020-2021 budget, the city wants to raise the department's funding to more than $73.1 million, a 3.4% increase. That is about 31.4% of the general fund budget.
Salaries and personnel expenses
Salaries and wages make up the biggest cost for the city's police department, followed by benefits, according to the budget proposal.
In FY 2019-2020, the department was given nearly $48.9 million for salaries and wages and more than $14.8 million for benefits. That rises in this year's budget to more than $50.8 million for salaries and wages and $15.1 million in benefits.
Grand Prairie
The city had approved a general fund budget of more than $143.2 million in expenditures for fiscal year 2019-2020 and proposed around a $4.6 million decrease for FY 2020-2021, with a budget of more than $138.6 million.
Within that, the city allocated more than $51.6 million for FY 2019-2020 to the police department, with a little more than $43 million going to personnel services, according to budget documents.
The city's proposed budget has a slight cut to the department's funding with a $51.4 million budget, which would mainly affect supplies and services funding. Of that, a planned $43.5 million would go towards personnel.
For FY 2019-2020, the department's funding was about 36% of general fund expenditures, while the proposed changes would raise that figure to 37%.
McKinney
The city adopted its budget for fiscal year 2020-2021 on Sept. 15. The new budget will increase expenditures by about $1.4 million or .9% over last year to nearly $159.4 million, according to budget documents. That figure was $158 million for the FY 2019-2020 adopted budget.
The police department was allocated nearly $39.7 million for FY 2019-2020, and that number was increased to more than $40.7 million in the proposed FY 2020-2021 budget.
That's about 25.1% of the general fund expenditures for FY 2019-2020 and 25.5% in FY 2020-2021.
The department did request the creation of five new positions for the fiscal year to keep up with the growth of the city, the budget said.
Frisco
The city approved a raise in its general fund expenditures for fiscal year 2021 in a vote on Sept. 15, bringing it to more than $182.6 million, budget documents show. The city had previously approved a budget of more than $177.8 million for FY 2020.
The police department was allocated more than $46.5 million in the adopted budget for FY 2020, about 26.1% of the general fund.
In the new budget, the department's budget will drop slightly to more than $46.4 million for FY 2021, which would be about 25.4% of the proposed general fund expenditures.
The new budget also created six new positions within the department, three of which will be grant funded.
Denton
The city of Denton approved its proposed FY 2020-2021 budget on Tuesday, which included a slight increase for its general fund from FY 2019-2020, budget documents show.
The current year's general fund budget was originally approved for nearly $136.5 million, and the proposed budget increased that to more than $140.3 million in FY 2020-2021.
The city's police department was allocated nearly $36 million, or around 26.4%, of the FY 2019-2020 general fund budget. The budget for FY 2020-2021 slightly increased that amount to more than $37.5 million, or 26.7%.
Part of the increase year-over-year is for six new positions. The city has allocated more than $811,000 from the general fund to pay for those positions.