Mayor Jacob Frey moved to end "double-time" police overtime in 2026, a change the city says will save about $3.64 million a year and help hold down the property-tax levy.

Since fall 2022, the Minneapolis Police Department has paid officers double their hourly rate — rather than the usual time-and-a-half — for "critical staffing overtime" to cover shifts during a manpower shortage. The agreement with the police federation that allows it expires at the end of 2025, and Frey chose not to renew it, keeping standard time-and-a-half overtime in place. Ending the premium saves roughly $3.64 million annually.
"Double overtime was a response to a staffing crisis at MPD," Frey said. "Now that the department is growing... we can afford to return to normal overtime." Police Chief Brian O'Hara framed the same point around recruiting: "We are finally seeing positive momentum as we rebuild the ranks of our depleted force," he said, adding that the double-time agreement "will not be renewed in 2026".
The change rides on staffing recovery. The department fell from about 900 sworn officers before 2020 to a low of 560 in 2024 and has since rebounded to 614 sworn personnel and recruits, a 17% increase since the end of 2023. The overtime savings were one piece of a budget Frey built to trim a levy increase that would otherwise have topped 13%; he proposed a 7.8% increase in his Aug. 13, 2025 budget address.
The City Council approved the roughly $2 billion 2026 budget in December on a 12-1 vote after nearly 40 amendments. The police changes landed against a backdrop of friction over MPD spending: the department overran its budget by $19.6 million, and council members pressed O'Hara on back pay, settlements and a wave of new hires.
For Lowry Hill and the lakes neighborhoods, the math connects directly to two things residents track: property taxes and police service. A dollar saved on overtime is a dollar not raised through the levy, weighed against questions of recruitment, retention and coverage in a department still rebuilding.

Hennepin County is expected to bring its final design for rebuilding Lyndale Avenue South to the Minneapolis City Council this month, after a June 1 public meeting where Uptown business owners and cyclists clashed over a plan that adds a bikeway and cuts about a quarter of on-street parking.

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The Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association board meets the first Tuesday of each month, 7 to 9 p.m., at the Searle Mansion, 1915 Logan Ave. S., where parks requests, traffic concerns and land-use notices get aired.

For the first time in years, the Hennepin Avenue corridor through Uptown heads into summer without an active construction zone, the rebuilt street now served by the METRO E Line that began carrying riders in December.