'Gilbert Goons' cases, added overtime put police department over budget. What's next

"Gilbert Goons" cases and employee overtime are leading causes for the Gilbert Police Department's current $2.3 million budget shortfall, the department's chief said.

Chief Michael Soelberg has asked the Gilbert Town Council to approve a budget adjustment to finish out the fiscal year.

Without it, the department “will be unable to pay essential invoices,” Soelberg wrote in a report to the council.

“Now that the end of the fiscal year is upon us, it is clear that we will not be able to maintain our levels of service without contingency funds,” Soelberg said.

About $1.9 million is to help pay for the overtime, call-out and standby pay, which “has consistently been well above the yearly budgeted amount,” according to Soelberg’s report.

Major cases involving teen violence, increases in workload and overtime, staffing shortages and training overtime are driving factors for the deficit, the report said.

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The Arizona Republic in December found the Gilbert Goons, a gang of mostly affluent teenagers, had engaged in a string of attacks on other teens in the southeast Valley for more than a year. Most attacks occurred in Gilbert.

Since The Republic’s investigation, several cases were reopened or were reported to the department for the first time. In addition, Gilbert police officials said the department was reviewing cases involving teenagers from the past two years.

An extra $360,550 was requested for vehicle-related accounts, largely for fuel rate increases and car repair and maintenance costs.

Another nearly $57,000 was requested to pay for cellular carrier costs. The Police Department switched cellular providers, and during the change, several computer data lines were not terminated and additional costs were incurred for a few months. That error accounted for a $43,900 unbudgeted expense, Soelberg's report said.

The new carrier was expected to bring ongoing savings compared with the previous provider, Soelberg wrote.

Adding to the cost is a change to fleet broadband connections.

The Town Council was to vote May 7 on the request. It is on the council's consent agenda.

Consent agendas are grouped items for a single vote with no discussion. Council members can request an item on the consent agenda be taken off consent for further discussion.

Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek and can be reached at maritza.dominguez@arizonarepublic.com or 480-271-0646. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @maritzacdom.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Gilbert Police Department needs $2.3M to finish out the year