Baldwin wants police to get more of surplus

City council will vote a final time on Monday to return to Peterborough Police 25 per cent of a nearly $500,000 surplus it had on its 2019 budget — not all of it, as police had requested.

The police force is the only city-funded agency that must get permission from council to keep a surplus, and in recent years council has taken back 50 per cent of any unspent money from Peterborough Police.

That was the recommendation from city staff in a financial report councillors received earlier this month: give half the 2019 surplus back. But councillors opted not to follow that recommendation. Instead they made a preliminary plan (to be ratified Monday) to keep 75 per cent of the money.

Some councillors said on June 8 the city should not relinquish the money because it faces steep financial losses in the COVID-19 pandemic.

On a budget of $25.6 million for 2019, city police used about $25.1 million — for a surplus of $496,435, according to a recent staff report from police.

In late March, the Peterborough Police Services Board voted to ask city council for the entire surplus back to fund some special projects, including new officer safety initiatives, new training to help officers deal with calls involving mental-health crises and IT upgrades. But council voted June 8 to give police $124,109 (25 per cent) and keep $372,327 (75 per cent) to start repaying pandemic-induced revenue losses from sources such as transit and parking.

Relinquished transit fares alone represent a loss of $1.5 million due to riders entering the bus from the rear doors to maximize physical distance with the driver.

Fares aren’t expected to be charged again until sometime in July, when the city can install Plexiglas barriers to shield drivers from riders as they board from the front doors.

Coun. Gary Baldwin, the police board chair, was the only councillor who voted against the plan to give back just 25 per cent of the police surplus to police.

He noted that it’s the seventh consecutive year police have been careful enough with money not to overspend their budget — and so they deserve the surplus back.

While Coun. Henry Clarke agreed that police are careful with their budget, he said this year’s shortfall makes it unaffordable to return much of the surplus.