The Austin, Texas, police department is preparing to shell out one of the most significant pay increases for officers since the 1990s, a boost that comes four years after the department was defunded in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.

Officials for the state capital city have presented a tentative offer that could help officers net up to a 30 percent increase over five years as part of a new contract between the Austin Police Department and City Hall, according to a report from the Austin American-Statesman. The offer comes amid six months of negotiations and an attempt to lock down a deal for officers who have been working in the interim without a new contract since March of last year.

President of the Austin Police Association, Michael Bullock, who is involved in the negotiations with city hall, said in a recent interview that both sides are getting close to an agreement but that the “clock is ticking.”

“We are focused on making sure that we’re going to be able to actually resolve our staffing crisis and keep people from leaving and be able to attract new recruits,” Mr. Bullock said. “That way we can refill our ranks, and we can get back to providing the level of service that our city expects and no longer be in a public safety crisis.”

Austin city officials told the Statesman that they appreciate the “good discussion” they have been having with the APA union and are optimistic that they can reach an agreement.

The talks come after years of significant staffing shortages. The Austin Police Department has consistently lost more officers than it has recruited on a yearly basis since 2020, when the city council voted unanimously to cut $150 million from the department’s budget after a series of protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.

A year later, the Texas State Legislature stepped in and ordered the Austin City Council to reverse the budgetary decision, but the damage was already done, with more than 350 leaving the force since 2020. Another analysis indicates more than a 50 percent turnover rate, which has presented public safety challenges.

This year alone, residents of Austin have dealt with longer response times for 911 emergency calls and have seen entire sections of town left unpatrolled for hours on end. Most notably, the entire east side of the city was left without any police officers patrolling for several hours on one Saturday in February of this year due to their roster shortfalls.

The APA’s original proposal was to increase base wages by 12 percent for new officers in their first year and another five percent the following four years. City Hall countered twice, with the most recent offer being a 7.5 percent increase in year one, followed by another 6 percent in year two, and then a four percent increase each year.

The union is reviewing the offer and expected to continue meeting with city officials this week.

The city has also offered pay stipends for patrol officers, which both sides have already agreed to. The amount of the stipend was not immediately known.

“We need to make sure that we are keeping people on patrol who want to be on patrol, so that way we can provide the highest level of service to citizens who are having usually the worst day of their life when they have to call us,” Mr. Bullock said.