DPS proposes border security cuts
Comments 2
February 16, 2010 7:35 PM
Jeremy Roebuck

Millions of state dollars allocated to beef up border security this year could be in jeopardy in the face of an estimated $10 billion to $16 billion budget shortfall.

On Tuesday, the Texas Department of Public Safety proposed slashing almost half the $22 million set aside to fund overtime hours for local law enforcement agencies and recommended eliminating money to purchase 41 new squad cars for the border region.

The suggestions come under a mandate from Gov. Rick Perry for all state agencies to come up with ways to slash their budgets by 5 percent.

But cutting back on border spending could drastically impact the resources available to many of the region’s rural police agencies that depend on state and federal grant money to fund their operations, said La Joya police Sgt. Ramon Gonzalez. His department received $150,000 in state dollars for overtime patrols last year.

“A lot of times we work one person a shift,â€