When the Dallas City Council votes this afternoon on the budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, it will consider giving the police department an additional $8 million over what the department spent this year. The Council will also vote on nearly $30 million of infrastructure improvements, expanded mental health services, housing, and employment programs that the city manager has said were prioritized after protesters spent months marching through the streets after the killing of George Floyd.

For many activists, this budget doesn’t go far enough. They want millions taken from the police department and spread out to other services in the city to help lift up neighborhoods where jobs are lacking, streets are crumbling, and amenities don’t match what’s available in the more affluent corners of Dallas. To them, the disparity in money allocated to the police budget — which, at a proposed $509 million after cutting overtime by $7 million, is about a third of the entire general fund spend — and most other services is so significant that it requires reallocation.

Many on Council, however, believe this budget is a compromise between the conflicting priorities of activists and other constituents who they say list public safety as their top concern during a second straight year of violent crime increases.

“There will hopefully be a point in time when there isn’t as much need in the normal residents’ eyes for law enforcement, but right now that’s just not the case when you knock on the average resident’s door,” says Councilman Adam Bazaldua, who represents South Dallas and Fair Park. “I do believe this is somewhat of a middle ground.”

Those activists have made their voices heard beyond their calls from the streets. They are organized. Hundreds have spoken during the public comment portion of Council meetings, urging their representatives to consider drastic cuts to the police department. They have sent emails and produced well-researched reports.

Our City Our Future, a group of activists that has organized a groundswell of support for defunding police, surveyed more than 700 residents from each of the 14 council districts to get input on where they’d like to see investments. They then dug into the budget, identifying $200 million in police funding that could be reallocated to other public services. The report details how that divestment could work. In Defense of Black Lives, another activist coalition that shares the platform of defunding the police, has a similar report. Neither group’s divestment strategies made it into a budget amendment.

Their calls for reform include changes to policing. They believe police often escalate situations and put Black and Brown Dallasites at risk. They believe that not every 911 call requires a police officer. They want to stop criminalizing poverty (e.g., there’s an ordinance against sleeping outside, although the district attorney has refused to prosecute). They want money from the police department to address the root causes of those problems, to reduce criminality by boosting services.

“A big thing with investing in the community is understanding the help people need. … If we can combat these issues at their core, we’re not going to be faced with so much violence,” says Jodi Voice Yellowfish, an organizing member of Our City Our Future. “These are conversations people don’t want to have.”