Dave Boushy is worried about the budget – both of them.
Dave Boushy is worried about the budget – both of them.
The veteran politician, re-elected to Sarnia city council Monday, is also a member of the Sarnia police services board and is bracing for difficult budget deliberations this fall for both public organizations.
“I have an idea of how the city budget is and – when you put them together – it’s going to be a tough job,” he said during Tuesday night’s police services board meeting at headquarters. “I can tell you right now it’s going to be a tough job, but that’s what we’re here for.”
The discussion came on the heels of Derek Davis, Sarnia’s new police chief, presenting an overview of the force’s upcoming three-year business plan, which will be presented for final approval next month. That plan, based on input gleaned from a series of public town-hall meetings last month and an online survey, will shape priorities for the 2023 budget.
Paul Wiersma, who chaired the meeting in Mayor Mike Bradley’s absence, said the several public sessions he attended produced a rich amount of data and feedback. He said the board needs to look at the input from the community, figure out what the priorities are and, based on that, give staff direction to create a budget that hits those targets while being financially reasonable.
“To your point, Coun. Boushy, I acknowledge that, yes, if we were to implement everything that the community wanted we’d be looking at an outrageous budget increase,” Wiersma said.
Kelly Ash, another member of the board, said she appreciates the challenge that city council has different priorities, but pointed out their top priority is officer and community safety.
“If they are not equipped with what they need, we’re in trouble,” she said, “and we’re not a safe community. We’re not.”
Davis showed the board a chart featuring the crime severity index, which is published by Statistics Canada. Based on a calculation focusing on types of crimes that took place and sentences handed down between 2010 and 2021, Sarnia ranked 77th of 326 communities with a population more than 10,000.
“That puts us in the top quarter of the crime severity index,” Davis said, “which is not the good quarter.”
The recent online survey of about 1,000 people showed 83 per cent felt Sarnia is less safe than it used to be, while the survey and in-person sessions both pointed to homelessness, illicit drug use and dealing, and mental health and addictions outreach as major issues.
“The budget’s going to be driven by the demands of the community,” Davis said.
The board moved behind closed doors Tuesday night to discuss the budget in more detail. A final draft of the new business plan and a draft of the budget will be presented to the board during its next meeting on Nov. 17. If approved, the budget will advance to city council for final approval.