A letter supporting an 11.5 per cent increase in Sarnia’s police budget isn’t what might be expected from the Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce.
But that’s what the group representing more than 500 local businesses sent the city this month.
“The Chamber is very much about saving taxpayer dollars and taxes of local business owners,” said its CEO, Carrie McEachran.
But she said her office has been hearing from more and more members about the increased levels of crime impacting their businesses, including property damage and theft, she said.
“One of the latest phone calls we received was from a business now incurring security costs to walk staff to their cars at the end of their shift,” McEachran said.
“Businesses are not only worried about the increased expenses. But there is great concern for the safety of their employees and customers due to rising crime in our community,” McEachran says in the letter to city council.
“We urge council to support the 2023 Sarnia Police Services budget increase as a necessary step in making Sarnia a safe and welcoming community for all.”
Concerns from local business owners mirrors comments from residents about rising local crime during debates in the community over the budget increase already approved by the Sarnia Police Services Board.
City council is expected to consider the police budget Jan. 10. City councilors can send the police budget back, if they don’t approve it, but can’t make changes to police spending on their own.
Roughly 8.8 per cent of the increase in the proposed $30.4-million police budget is for spending already approved and previously negotiated increases, city police have said.
The remaining 2.7 per cent will pay for expanding police mental-health and community outreach teams and creating an auxiliary unit in response to feedback from town-hall meetings and an online survey carried out this year by the police services’ administration.
The prevalence of guns, drugs and violent crime have all be on the rise in Sarnia, Police Chief Derek Davis has said, noting the city’s violent crime severity index nearly double in 2021 when compared to 2013.
“We looked at the proposed police budget and really thought, ‘This is a really good step in the right direction to helping with this problem,’” McEachran said.
“It certainly wasn’t something we take lightly, knowing the Chamber typically does advocate for cost saving.”
Concern about crime levels isn’t unique to Sarnia, McEachran said.
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has also been expressing concern about the impact of rising crime on its members across the province.
“It’s everywhere,” McEachran said.
“We’re post-COVID – post-pandemic. Businesses are trying to get themselves to the point where they’re thriving again and this is just another hit.”
With files from Terry Bridge of The Observer