The Belleville Police Services Board approved the police department’s 2021 operating budget on Thursday morning.
Chief Mike Callaghan presented an operational spending plan of a little more than $20 million, a 6.32% increase over 2020.
One million dollars of that is going directly towards paying off the new police station, with Chief Callaghan also noting that 94% of the operating budget is made up of officer salaries and benefits.
The chief admitted that the jump might draw some attention, but says the increase is due mainly to the move to the much larger new headquarters, which has seen hydro costs go up more than 250%, natural gas costs up 336% and maintenance costs go up more than 150%.
Police Board Chair Jack Miller also noted that major investigations, such as the one that began last week when a Quinte West OPP officer was stabbed just north of Belleville, can also lead to more overtime for officers and have a negative impact on the budget.
Chief Callaghan says he feels the spending plan is responsible and fair, noting that if you compare Belleville’s operating budget to police services and cities of similar size, it’s actually cheaper.
” … $556,000 cheaper than Cornwall and $1,554,000 cheaper than North Bay. When we look at those numbers and the challenges that we have, we’re very comfortable that we’re providing an extremely good and professional service to our community, while understanding the impact of the operational budget to our taxpayers.”
The Chief also presented a list of 17 areas where the police force is trying to save some money including:
- Purchasing a zero turn lawnmower, to take care of landscaping in house (saving $15,000/year)
- Moving to all-season tires instead of winter/summer tires (saving $16,000/year)
- Using bulk windshield washer fluid (saving 20 cents/litre)
- The Joint Forces Room will be used for training to reduce travel and accommodations costs (saving $2,500/officer per course)
- Changed supplier of police footwear (saving $100/pair)
- Moved to an online auction for the sale of police vehicles and unclaimed property
- The community has donated $74,000 towards the costs of the K-9 program, with ongoing support
- Changed car wash vendor to reduce the costs from $5.50 to $4.00 per wash
- Using digital documents to reduce courier costs (saving $2,100/year)
- Training costs cut from $200,000 to $115,000, to cover legislated member training only
- Grant funding obtained to hire and equip a crime analyst at $65,000 and $17,000 to assist with an investigator’s position for human trafficking investigations
- Reduction of auxiliary officer positions from 15 to 12 (saving $9,000)
- Project Renewal program with OPP has provided three interoperable investigators (saving $400,000/year)
- Health I.M. funding for next five years at $20,000/year, providing a savings of $100,000 over five years
- Reduction in printed materials (saving $500/year)
- Purchase of surveillance equipment to reduce the costs of officer-on-scene security
- Central printing locations in new police station (saving $7,500/year)
Mayor Mitch Panciuk told the board “budgets are about balancing priorities” and that “this budget reiterates the fact that community safety in Belleville is a priority”.
The mayor says he plans to support the budget when it comes up for discussion by Belleville Council next week.
“I’m going to support this budget here and I’ll support it at City Council. I know we’re going to have to make sacrifices in other areas of the city in order to fulfill this 6.32% in crease, but I think it’s justifiable and I appreciate the work of the committee to identify the areas where we could find cost savings.”
You can click here to read the full 2021 Belleville Police operating budget and watch the full meeting below.
