Hamilton police and library budget surpluses should get approval from city, not boards: councillor

City staffers will start coordinating with Hamilton Police Service (HPS) and Hamilton Public Library to set up a process where both entities would need city council's approval before spending surplus funds.

The city's audit, finance and administration committee unanimously approved the motion without much discussion Thursday morning.

"We're approving budgets for entities and these two, according to staff, are distinct from others. They're funded by us, they have surpluses and deficits," said Ward 2 Coun. Cameron Kroetsch, who also sits on the police services board, introduced the motion.

"Right now what we're doing is saying, 'Here's a bunch of money, if you come in under the amount you asked for, do as you wish with the rest of it.' It doesn't seem to make sense to me," he said.

City staff would come back to the committee and then council would have to ratify the process.

While the motion names both the police service and the public library system, Kroetsch focused most of his attention on HPS, which makes up nearly 20 per cent of the city's total budget and sees its own board, not the city, approve reserve fund spending.

The police service's budget and its regular surpluses have been under scrutiny for years but especially since the murder of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man who died after a police officer leaned on his neck for over eight minutes.

The HPS budget this year is almost $196 million.

Hamilton finance general manager Mike Zegarac previously said HPS forecasts another budget increase of 4.5 per cent or $8.7 million.

Last year, the service had a $1 million surplus.

In 2021, the service said it had a $2 million deficit, but had reserve funds to make up for it.

In 2020, HPS had a $2.1 million surplus.

Pat Mandy, chair of the police board, told CBC Hamilton the current process was developed in collaboration with the city and wants to know the pros and cons of changing.

"What's working now has worked well," she said.

Kroetsch said the motion is about "generating a conversation so there's accountability."