Police project $1.5M deficit by year’s end

Ottawa police are expecting to be $7.4 million in the red by the end of the year, but plan to find ways to make back $5.9 million to “offset” the financial pressures, according to a financial status report set to be received by the police board Monday.

That still means that the city police force is expecting to post a deficit of $1.5 million by year’s end. The additional $7.4 million in expenditures is coming largely from the same places the force has seen added costs since the beginning of the year, “which in some cases have increased in magnitude,” said the report.

Police expect to overspend on overtime to the tune of $3.1 million by the end of year “with staffing pressures and workload identified as the primary underlying factors.” Overtime budgets have been a sticking point, with several officers saying that the force simply isn’t budgeting for the cost of doing police work.

Collision reporting centres continue to see a shortfall in expected revenue, a pattern that’s been seen quarter after quarter after quarter.

An increase in WSIB claims will cost the force an expected $1.1 million, largely due to presumptive PTSD legislation. The service also unexpectedly footed the bill to equip frontline officers with naloxone and to develop a multi-year action plan for bias-neutral policing, which includes a diversity audit of the force.

The force plans to put off replacing part of its fleet of vehicles to help make up costs and delay some civilian hiring. The service also instituted a freeze on all discretionary spending in May of this year — a move that routinely comes near the end of the year — the earliest that officers recall the spending being frozen.

Unexpected delays in a new radio system mean an extra $300,000 in “freed-up radio usage fees” that will also go toward balancing the budget. syogaretnam@postmedia.com twitter.com/shaaminiwhy