Police board approves final budget with 6.25% increase

Sick leave and new radio system push up price tag

WATERLOO REGION — The Waterloo Regional Police Services Board unanimously approved a 2020 budget of $180 million on Wednesday.

That’s down $650,000 from the previous presentation of the budget. After that presentation, police Chief Bryan Larkin said he and his staff looked for additional savings.

“We need to balance our needs versus other social service needs,” he said in an interview after the board meeting. “I think it’s the right approach.”

The reduction was achieved because of $350,000 in provincial funding for cannabis legalization, savings of $100,000 in costs to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and postponing filling vacancies.

The current budget, which goes before regional council for formal approval on Jan. 22, means the average household in Waterloo Region will pay $663 for police services next year, up $27.94 from last year. It represents an increase of 6.25 per cent from the 2019 budget.

Pressures on the 2020 budget included:

á $3.6 million to change the service’s sick leave program to a long-term disability plan. In 2018, about 17 per cent of the total workforce was off work, absent or working partial days.

á $2.1 million to meet contractual agreements reached in August that allow a paid lunch break for all civilian employees, effective July 1. On an annual basis, the paid lunch breaks cost $4 million.

á $1.3 million to cover the service’s share of the new voice radio system expected to be implemented in the coming months. The service has incurred millions of dollars in overtime to place two officers in each cruiser. It was a safety issue because officers were having trouble hearing broadcasts over the existing system, Larkin said.

When Larkin went before a regional budget committee last month, budget chair Sean Strickland asked the chief to look for savings and trim the $181-million budget.

A week later, the police services board approved a plan to use reserves to reduce the budget by $715,000.

On Wednesday, police board member Sandy Shantz thanked management for taking another look at the numbers and finding savings.

“The public is always looking for lower rather than higher,” said board member Karl Kiefer. “I know these decisions are difficult.”