Major investments in Omaha’s parks and public safety lead the city’s proposed 2027 budget.
City Council members and the public will get to weigh in on the proposal in coming weeks. As currently written by the mayor’s office, the budget will total $1.7 billion, with a roughly $600 million general fund.
“For the second year of my term, we are presenting a budget that keeps the property level, property tax levy flat, while going big on parks, and boosting police and fire,” Mayor John Ewing said in a presentation to City Council members Tuesday.
Public safety
The mayor again made assurances that the police department will be at full staff in 2027, a campaign promise and a yearslong goal of the previous mayoral administration.
Sworn officers will see a wage increase of 6.4%. That amount is in line with a previously approved agreement to keep Omaha’s sworn staff at a 5% higher benchmark than the next highest-paying Nebraska law enforcement agency. Staffing as of late July is at 835, and the city aims to reach 906 in 2027.
If approved, the Omaha Fire Department would get nine new firefighter positions in 2027, which city leaders said will ease the personal and physical strain on firefighters.
The city will ask voters to approve two major bond issues in November: a $155 million bond for the building of a new police and fire headquarters near the long-awaited Crossroads development, and a $30 million bond for the completion of the Tranquility sports complex.
The 275,000-square-foot police and fire headquarters is slotted for a 3.2-acre site between Cass and Chicago streets near 74th Avenue. It’s estimated it will have capacity for more than 300 public safety professionals from the Omaha Police Department and Omaha Fire Department.
If voters approve the bonds in November, the design phase for the new headquarters would continue into late 2027, with construction beginning in January 2028 and the project scheduled for completion in the spring of 2030.
Parks get boost
For parks, the city will match a $5 million investment from local philanthropic donors. The 20% increase in general fund spending from 2026 will help fund a combined 14 new full-time positions in parks and contribute to maintenance projects.
Despite a healthy amount of funding for specific projects, like Omaha’s downtown parks, the rest of the city’s public spaces are falling behind. In 2024, city leaders hired a consultant to analyze the park system and establish a master plan that would guide the next 20 years of Omaha’s parks.
They found that the city’s per-capita and per-acre spending on parks is lower than comparable cities such as Kansas City and Cincinnati. Staffing shortages impact available programs, and recruitment remains difficult, especially for seasonal and part-time roles within the parks system.
“We spend proportionally less on parks than we do for police, fire, and public works, which combined account for most of city spending,” Ewing said. “In 2027, we will turn this around by spending the combined $10 million extra on parks.”
A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for Aug. 11 at City Hall. The council will vote to finalize the budget Aug. 25.