Chief’s buyout part of NRP cost overruns
The retirement package of former Niagara Regional Police chief Jeff McGuire contributed nearly $1 million to the service’s $7-million deficit, regional government documents show.
The $870,000 package was paid from the 2017 NRP operating budget, which ended the year in the red.
The police services board offset the deficit by raiding its reserve funds and is asking Niagara Region to cover the difference
A Feb. 21 memo to Niagara Region’s corporate services committee, written by acting commissioner Jason Burgess in response to questions from councillors, said the police services board paid McGuire’s $870,000 package entirely from the 2017 operating budget even though part of the payment was made in Jan. 2018.
McGuire accepted the board’s the hefty payout — plus benefits and his police computer and customized Buick Enclave worth an estimated $50,000 to $60,000 — in June 2017.
McGuire has said he intended to serve until his contract ended in 2020, but the board’s offer was one he couldn’t refuse. Sources familiar with NRP management told The Standard some board members were frustrated McGuire’s contract extended beyond the next municipal election, thereby denying them the opportunity to hire a police chief.
According to the agreement, released by the board last month, McGuire was paid in two instalments. The first was to be paid within 30 days of the agreement being signed and the other in January 2018.
The NRP finished 2017 with a $7-million deficit. According to NRP financial documents, the cost overruns were driven, in part, by $1.9 million in unbudgeted retirements and sick leave.
Those financial documents also show the board did not budget enough money for an arbitrated contract settlement with frontline officers. The board budgeted $2.8 million to cover wage increases, but the final contracted ended up costing $5 million.
The board — it is made up of three provincial government appointees, three regional councillors and one civilian appointed by the Region — also ran a $92,000 deficit as a result of “increased legal services.”
To offset the deficit, the board has drained $4.6 million from multiple reserve funds and will ask regional council to fund the remaining $2.4 million.
The board has faced public and political criticism over McGuire’s retirement deal and its deficit. Board chair and Niagara Falls regional Coun. Bob Gale, who did not respond to an interview request for this story, has said that it is likely the NRP will run another deficit in 2018.
Asked last week about the NRP financial position by Port Colborne city councillors, board member and Port Colborne regional Coun. David Barrick said: “Quite frankly, the Region is flush with cash. They have over $140 million in reserves. So am I worried? Absolutely not.”
At the Feb. 8 regional council meeting, and again in a letter last week, Gale lashed out at critics and the press.
Gale said former NRP deputy chief Joe Matthews, St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik and police union president Cliff Priest — all of whom spoke to The Standard for an expose on the politics behind McGuire’s retirement — should apologize for being critical of the police services board.
He also attacked The Standard, without naming the paper directly, calling it a “negative media outlet” whose coverage of police finances hurts frontline officers.
In last week’s letter, Gale denied demanding the apologies and said the board was not getting credit for finding some $800,000 in savings in the NRP’s $143.5-million budget for 2018.