The Oak Park Police Department has submitted its recommended budget for 2026 to the village’s finance committee.
The police are seeking a budget increase of more than $1.125 million for next year as the department anticipates officer raises, departmental pension contribution increases, a continued recruiting drive and other initiatives. The OPPD is one of several Oak Park departments set to present its recommended 2026 budget at the Oak Park finance committee meeting on Nov. 6, as the village is now just weeks away from finalizing next year’s spending plan.
In total, the OPPD is asking for a 2026 operating budget of $30,159,380. The increase over last year is driven primarily by staff salaries and benefits increases.
The OPPD’s pension contribution is increasing by $637,159 next year, as the department’s fringe benefits funding goes up by more than $855,000. Personnel compensation is set to go up by $261,483, as laid out in the police department’s collective bargaining agreement.
Other spending increases are tied to the department’s ongoing push to address its staffing crunch, an issue which has been a persistent challenge for the department in recent years.
Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson told Wednesday Journal in April that the department has 86 sworn officers with the goal of getting to 116 by “mid 2026.” In 2019, the department had 109 sworn officers.
According to the police department’s annual report for 2025, last year brought the greatest amount of turnover the department’s seen in recent years, with highs in both new hires and departures among sworn officers. The department hired 19 new officers but lost 20 to either retirement or resignation in 2024, according to the report.
The department is now asking for a $40,000 increase to its budget for background checks in anticipation of increased hiring next year, according to the department’s budget proposal.
In light of the personnel spending increases, the department plans to spend a little less on supplies next year, with the OPPD set to accept a budget decrease of $9,709 on material and supplies. The department’s budget request for equipment and software is identical to the $71,650 that was approved last year, according to the budget proposal.
In addition to these requests, the OPPD will factor into the village’s 2026 budget in one more major way as the village looks to commit to a path toward building a stand alone police station at a special meeting later this month.
The special meeting is planned for Thursday, Nov. 20, at 6 p.m., according to the “tentative” village board meeting calendar published as part of the agenda for Oct. 14’s village board meeting.
Discussions on the current shape of the construction project, which is expected to top out at a cost of more than $100 million, have been delayed several times in recent months. The project is expected to deliver the Oak Park Police Department a new standalone police station — most likely on the patch of grass south of village hall’s parking lot — and include extensive renovations to the five-decades-old village hall building.
The police department now operates out of village hall’s basement, a space considered too small and outdated to suit the needs of a modern village police department. The village has been working to find a path to a new base of operations for the department since at least 2015, when it commissioned a property condition assessment on village hall.
