Police board rejects cuts

Board members vote to stick with their original 2017 police budget request and won’ t cut $102K from budget as city council had hoped

The police services board isn’t going to trim $102,000 from their request of $24.4-million to run Peterborough Police, in 2017 – never mind that city council asked the board to consider it.

At a meeting Tuesday night, the police board voted to stick with their original budget request of council.

Instead of whittling away $102,000, they’ll simply ask again for the full amount.

“Then we’ll see their response,” said Bob Hall, chairman of the police board. Police board members agreed to it with no debate.

The issue stems back to late November, when city councillors held their budget talks.

At the time, council reviewed a request from Peterborough Police Service for about $24.4 million to run the force in 2017.

It was $102,000 more than council had been prepared to give.

Most of the $24.4 million is meant for paying wages-but it also includes $547,700 for upgrading equipment and replacing vehicles.

Most of that $547,700 would be for the replacing six cruisers and also for buying a new van to transport six officers to an emergency at once.

Council asked the police board to review that request and trim about $102,000.

But then they took it a step further and suggested police put off the purchase of the new van, for a saving of roughly $102,000.

The police have a van to carry six officers to an emergency-but it’ s 13 years old and has logged more than 250,000 kilometres.

It’s a decommissioned ambulance the police got from free from Peter borough County, which oversees paramedics service in the city and county, in 2009.

At a meeting last month, Deputy Chief Tim Farquharson said the vehicle isn’t road-worthy.

See BUDGET | A2

BUDGET from A1

At that same meeting, police board member Ken East said the city has no right to point to a specific item in the police budget and ask that it be nixed – that’s up to the police board to decide.

On Tuesday, Hall said the board should listen to suggestions and ideas from its main funder – the city.

“But this is about a vehicle we need,” he said. “This is about safety. This is about security. And this is about doing our jobs right.”

Meanwhile the police are expecting a deficit for 2016.

Ken East, the board’s finance chairman, said the deficit is expected to be about $143,900, due to legal fees.

East said those include legal fees associated with a contractual matter concerning the chief and deputy chief, but there were many other legal costs too (when SIU holds hearing, for example, as well as discipline and civil matters).

The board will have to decide, at a future meeting, how to cover that deficit: They can either ask the city for money or dip into police reserves (there’s about $344,000 in that reserve fund).