Police seeking 2.8% budget hike
Peterborough Police are planning to ask the city for a 2.8 per cent budget increase to run the force in 2019, compared to this year.
That would mean a request for $25,676,710. That’s up from roughly $24.9 million, this year.
The Peterborough Police Services Board approved this 2019 budget at a meeting at the police station Tuesday evening. It’s the first budget under Chief Scott Gilbert, who replaced Murray Rodd this summer after his retirement.
City council won’t be formally asked for this money for awhile, though: following the municipal election on Monday, inauguration happens on Dec. 3.
Budget talks for 2019 start in early January, and council will hear from police — among other city departments — about their funding needs for 2019.
The proposed 2.8 per cent budget increase for Peterborough Police is in line with increases of the last couple of years (which have hovered around three per cent or less).
This comes after years of budget increases in the five- to seven-per-cent range, which soured the relationship for awhile between city council and police.
Mayor Daryl Bennett in particular had a strained relationship with the police and the police board for a few years, much of which stems from budget debates.
Bennett was suspended from the police board six years ago, investigated and found guilty — but later freed from almost all blame and told he could return to the board.
The tumult started in 2011, the year of a bitter feud between the police and council over money: the police had asked for too much to run the force in 2012, in Bennett’s opinion, and the mayor wasn’t afraid to say so in public.
But later Bennett was legally entitled to return to the board, which he did in late 2017. In January 2018, he was elected finance/budget chairman of the board.
Bennett is running for re-election against Diane Therrien in Monday’s municipal election.
Bob Hall, the board chairman, is running for a council seat in Otonabee Ward; he’s currently the citizens’ appointee on the board.