Public Records Investigation

$6.2 Million Paid Out — $10.8 Million More Deferred

Evanston paid $6.2 million in direct police overtime between 2023 and 2025. But officers also banked 129,501 hours in comp time — a hidden liability worth an estimated $10.8 million more.

Data obtained via FOIA request — all figures from official city records
The real number: When comp time is included, the true cost of Evanston police overtime from 2023–2025 is estimated at $17 million — nearly three times what the city publicly reports.
$6.2MDirect cash overtime paid
129,501Comp time hours banked
~$10.8MEstimated deferred liability
~$17MEstimated true total cost
45,148Total overtime entries
253Officers receiving overtime

Spending by year

Cash overtime has grown every year. Comp time hours banked remain consistently high — meaning the hidden liability keeps accumulating regardless of what the budget shows.

Cash overtime paid per year
Cash overtime per year
Comp time hours banked per year
Comp time hours per year

The hidden cost: comp time

When officers work overtime and take comp time instead of cash, the city records a $0 payment. Those hours don't disappear — they accumulate as paid leave, cashable at the officer's prevailing rate, often at retirement when rates are highest.

Direct cash overtime

$6,171,812

Paid out directly in 2023–2025. Visible in the city budget. 14,067 entries across 253 cops.

Comp time — deferred liability

129,501 hours

Banked as future paid leave. Not counted in overtime budgets. At the average rate of $83.35/hr, this represents an estimated $10.8 million in future obligations — 31,081 entries.

Top comp time bankers

Officers who banked the most comp time hours, with their estimated deferred liability to taxpayers.

#NameComp hours bankedEst. deferred valueRelative

Cop overtime earnings

Officers who earned the most in direct cash overtime, on top of their base salaries. Names are as they appear in official city payroll records released under FOIA.

# Name Cash OT paid ↓ Entries Relative

Why overtime was approved

Each entry includes a city-assigned justification code. Here's where the cash went — and where comp time is quietly accumulating.

Top causes — cash paid
Top causes — comp hours banked
Cash overtime by cause (dollars paid)
Cash overtime causes

While police overtime grew, community was cut

The same years Evanston spent $6.2 million in police overtime cash — and banked $10.8 million more in deferred comp time — District 65 faced mounting budget crises: schools slated for closure, crossing guards halved, and middle school librarians eliminated entirely.

D65 school closings

2–3 schools

District 65 is closing at least two elementary schools for 2026–27 — Bessie Rhodes already confirmed, with Kingsley, Lincolnwood, Willard, and Orrington all on shortlists. The district needs to cut $12.1 million from its FY2027 budget. Each closure saves roughly $2 million per year.

Source: Evanston Now, Oct. 28, 2025

Crossing guard cuts

50 → 25

D65 will halve crossing guards by fall 2027. Families near Kingsley Elementary and Haven Middle School on Green Bay Road are most alarmed. The city's own crossing guard budget was simultaneously cut from $290,000 to $200,000 in FY2026 — a 31% reduction.

Sources: The Evanstonian, Nov. 21, 2025; FY2026 Adopted Budget, p. 124

Middle school librarians eliminated

All positions

As of April 2026, District 65 is eliminating all middle school librarian positions — affecting Haven, Nichols, and Chute middle schools — as part of a $6.3 million budget cut plan. Librarians will be reassigned to other roles. The district had just spent $500,000 on iPads for elementary students months earlier. The state school librarians' association called the decision one made "in spite of feedback from teachers, students, and community."

Source: Evanston RoundTable, April 18, 2026

What was said

"You do not balance the budget on the backs of librarians. This decision will be a disaster for literacy rates in Evanston."

— Community member, Evanston RoundTable comments

"D65 is once again showing how unserious it is about focusing on excellent K-8 education. Why is D65 not cutting high-paid administrators?"

— Community member, Evanston RoundTable comments

The contrast: police overtime vs. community cuts
Police overtime vs community cuts comparison
The math: One year of 2025 police overtime cash ($2.47M) could fund the crossing guard program for over 12 years, or keep every middle school librarian employed for years, or prevent a school closure. Three years of police overtime cash ($6.2M) is more than half the entire D65 budget gap that is forcing these cuts.

What $17 million could fund instead

Police overtime is a budget choice. These are some of the alternatives the full estimated cost represents for Evanston residents.

Based on estimated true total cost of $16.97M (cash paid + deferred comp time at avg $83.35/hr). D65 budget gap, library, affordable housing, TBRA, reparations, and CARE Team figures are exact FY2026/FY2027 adopted amounts from official city and district budgets. Food security and re-entry figures are illustrative estimates using regional averages.

About this data

Source

Data was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the City of Evanston (request #261709). Records cover police overtime from January 2023 through early 2026 — 45,148 individual entries across 253 cops.

Cash vs. comp time

City records include both direct cash payments and comp time entries. Comp time entries show $0 paid — they represent hours banked as future paid leave. We display these separately because they represent a real and largely invisible taxpayer cost. The deferred value estimate uses the average hourly rate from cash entries ($83.35/hr).

Methodology

Records were released in two spreadsheets and have not been altered, only cleaned for display. 2026 entries are excluded due to incomplete data.

Officer names

Names are published as they appear in official public records. Compensation records for public employees are public information under Illinois law (5 ILCS 140).

Questions or corrections

If you believe there is an error in this data, contact us. We will review and correct factual mistakes promptly.