While overall deliberations continue, Chatham-Kent councilors accepted the police service’s $34-million budget this past week.
With a 4.4 per cent hike from last year, much of the increase is related to staffing and the collective agreement, said Chatham-Kent police Chief Gary Conn during his presentation.
“(It) leaves very little room for other expenses,” he said Thursday.
The police budget included four additional cadets, increasing the number of sworn officers from 164 to 168. Conn said this is still below the provincial and national averages per 100,000 population, with Ontario at 174 and Canada at 183.
Conn said he expects the call volume to increase in the coming years, particularly due to “mission creep,” with officers responding to calls, such as mental health, addictions, poverty and homelessness, that are more social service in nature.
The opioid crisis, deployment to the Wheatley gas explosion site and overtime related to serious criminal investigations are also stretching resources, the chief added.
Service enhancements in the budget included:
- One additional officer for the community mobilization unit;
- Enhancements to the mobile crisis team;
- A community safety and well-being plan co-ordinator;
- An unmanned aerial system;
- A bike patrol unit;
- A polygraph machine;
- An equity, diversity and inclusion co-ordinator;
- A next-generation 911 communication center upgrade; and
- Body-worn cameras.
Noting the challenges of this year’s municipal budget, Wallacbeburg Coun. Aaron Hall entered a motion, which ultimately failed, asking the police budget to be reduced by $250,000.
“It’s a balancing act, right?” he said. “We have to have these tough conversations in order to develop a better understanding.”
However, Conn said the budget was as lean as it could be, adding he couldn’t think of any areas to potentially cut from, given the “perfect storm” of the various crises.
“Ninety-one per cent of our budget is associated with salary and benefits,” he said. “It is really difficult for me to, or the board to, find cost savings with that remaining nine per cent.
“Those cadets that we’re talking about, we’re already funding that through a reserve.”
Chatham County. Marjorie Crew, who sits on the police services board, said there was a healthy conversation at the board level.
“We have a growing community and we need to service them properly,” she said, “and not wait until disasters hit or crises happen.”
Budget chair and Chatham Coun. Brock McGregor commended the police board for doing its best to mitigate costs in a high-need year, as well as the usage of reserves to phase in the cost of the cadets.
Deliberations on other municipal budget matters continue Tuesday. If needed, Wednesday and Thursday have also been set aside. The meetings run from 6 pm to 10 pm
Staff will accept written deputations of up to five minutes each evening. Submissions must be sent to [email protected] before 3 pm each day.
Comments can also be mailed to Budget & Performance Services, Municipality of Chatham-Kent, 315 King St. W., PO Box 640, Chatham, Ont., N7M 5K8, or submitted by phone to 519-360-1998.
All budget meetings will be broadcast by YourTV and livestreamed on the YourTV Chatham-Kent YouTube page.