2 Hamilton police board members say the policing budget could be cut by $5M — here's how

Two police board members are proposing a litany of ways to cut policing costs, such as disbanding the mounted unit and eliminating some management positions, as the Hamilton Police Services Board prepares to take another look at its 2024 budget.

Coun. Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2) and Dr. Anjali Menezes, both members of the board's budget committee, have proposed ways they say would shave nearly $5 million off the police budget, if passed at a special meeting Tuesday afternoon.  

"While we can't direct the chief on specific operational decisions, the budget is ultimately the board's responsibility," said Kroetsch in a release Monday. "We've made recommendations to increase the overall fiscal accountability of the budget, which is our duty as members of the board."

The meeting starts at noon ET Tuesday and will be streamed online from the police service board's website. It comes after city council voted 12-3 to ask the board to look for more savings.

The police board's first attempt at a budget, which totalled $214.8 million, represents a $16-million (or 8.41 per cent) increase over 2023. 

At a January city budget meeting, police services board chair Pat Mandy said the amount police requested "is maintaining the status quo... The additions were to address concerns we heard from the community in addition to recommendations out of inquests.

"There was, again, nothing additional that would be 'nice to have' or 'nice to do.'" 

Deferring new hires, cancelling parking lot repair

Policing accounts for 16 per cent of the average property tax bill — the largest component of the city's budget, Mike Zegarac, the city's general manager of finance, has said. 

Kroetsch and Menezes, who voted against the police budget when the board approved it in December, are proposing the following reductions:

• Deferring hiring of 22 full-time staffers costing around $741,000, and reconsidering those hires in advance of next year's budget.
• Increase the ratio of staff to management from about 11:1 "to be in line with other city emergency services like the Hamilton Fire Department" at 66:1 and the Hamilton Paramedic Service at 50:1. (They are proposing eliminating management positions as people retire.).
• Disbanding units that aren't mandated by legislation or recommended by provincial inquests, such as the mounted unit ($914,068), the ceremonial units ($37,300) and sworn staff allocated to recruitment, and reallocating their staff.
• Removing expenses not mandated by legislation including advertising and promotion ($118,100).
• Cancelling spending on cable television ($19,600), retiree events ($19,400) and website design ($100,000), and repairing the Mountain Station parking lot ($500,000). 
• Reducing office supplies spending to be in line with per capita spending on office supplies in other city departments.
• Eliminating separate policing surveys ($61,900) and working with the city on adding policing questions to its surveys, as well as investigating merging other teams with the city, including communications, legislative support, legal, accounting, information technology, and human resources.

They are also calling on the police board to follow the city's lead and draw money out of its reserves to prevent a higher tax increase for city residents.

City council has been trying to whittle down a tax hike that now stands at 7.9 per cent.

Some of that increase comes from changes in provincial funding and is out of the city's control. That leaves about a 4.3 per cent increase from the city's portion, which covers municipal services and new housing and homelessness initiatives.

Council has asked staff to bring municipally generated increases down to four per cent, and Mayor Andrea Horwath has spoken about the need to bring down costs.

Horwath is one of seven members of the police services board, which also includes three members appointed by the Ontario government: chair Pat Mandy, vice-chair Fred Bennink and Geordie Elms, as well as Coun. Esther Pauls.

Pauls recused herself from December's budget vote because her son is a police officer.

Public feedback largely supports reduction

Tuesday's police board meeting will be held in Room 264 at city hall, but will only be accessible to the public and media online.

"Due to the size of the room the special meeting is being held in, members of the public and media are not able to attend in person," states the posted agenda, which also includes written correspondence on the police budget from more than 100 residents.

Police had asked for feedback from the community in advance of the meeting. 

Resident Brad Russell submitted a statement urging the board not to "defund our police force to the point of ineffectiveness," suggesting "surely there are other expenses that could be cut… lt should be paramount to provide the citizens of Hamilton with a sense of protection that comes from having a well [motivated] and well-equipped police force."

However, a majority of the correspondence received appears to support a police budget reduction.

"Given the increased cost of living and rise in houselessness in Hamilton, such resources would be much better spent on social services that work to improve living conditions for Hamiltonians," wrote Venus Underhill. 

"An increase [to] the police budget would not only fail to address the needs of the Hamilton population, but as we have continually witnessed, the police often escalate situations with marginalized community members and [exacerbate] the trauma of people in mental health crisis and otherwise in need of support."

If the police board and the city cannot agree on a budget, the board can appeal the city's decision to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC). City staff have previously said that police boards tend to win those appeals. 

The police budget deliberations come just days ahead of the planned date to approve the 2024 budget for the city as a whole, on Thursday.

Council's general issues committee has a budget meeting scheduled for 9:30 a.m., followed immediately by a special council meeting during which the budget will be officially passed.