Hamilton police board to ask for $213M budget in 2024

Hamilton Police Services Board will ask the city for a total budget of $213 million in 2024, an increase of at least $13 million over this year's budget.

The proposed new budget includes $206,921,005, the combined operating and capital budget, and an additional $6,501,640 to cover imposed costs related to the police services act.

It's $20 million more than the 2023 budget, but if you exclude imposed costs from the police services act, the total request is a $13 million or 6.88 per cent increase.

During the police board's meeting mid December, Chief Frank Bergen described it as a "maintenance budget."

That's how he previously described the 2023 budget, which was $193,596,000 when you exclude the $2,255,000 imposed costs related to the police services act.

The board voted to approve 2024's proposed budget, four votes to two. The two board members opposed were Coun. Cameron Kroetsch and Dr. Anjali Menezes — who both sit on the budget committee.

Police cite staffing, training, technology needs

A report submitted to the board by the police service states that much of the increase comes from staffing costs, which account for $9.24 million.

Staffing costs include collective agreement wage settlements, benefits and more.

Other budget pressures cited were rising Workplace Safety and Insurance Board costs, additional mandated training and technology requirements, like vehicles with in-car cameras and automated licence plate readers.

• Want to see the full line-by-line proposed budget? Read it at the bottom of the story.

The police service plans to hire two detective constables and a civilian support worker to establish a dedicated Missing Persons Unit, as recommended as a result of the Devon Freeman inquest.

It also plans to hire four civilian communications operations, per legislative requirements related to calls to police, and nine full-time civilian members including a crime analyst supervisor and corporate communications coordinator, to support the board's strategic plan.

Much of the capital budget expenditure would focus on buying and upgrading police vehicles and expanding information technology, like more storage and replacing computers.

Chief Frank Bergen told the board calls for service are growing but response to calls is falling due to staffing levels, more complex calls and the force trying to use resources like the rapid intervention support team.

He added the service has tried to find efficiencies, like asking people to report crimes over the phone or online, which saved over 13,400 hours or the equivalent of roughly nine full-time officers.

A budget forecast from the police service showed the police budget will continue to rise in 2025, 2026 and 2027, but at six per cent, three per cent and three-and-a-half per cent respectively.

Mixed views on board role in assessing the budget

Kroetsch said he would not support the budget, saying there isn't enough data to "adequately respond to the community's concerns."

He expressed frustration about the budget process, saying the board, unlike the police service, "doesn't take this seriously" and seems to have governance processes designed to merely "receive the reports … and pass them along."

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He described how the budget committee doesn't have enough meetings and how it only reviews the presentation of the budget, instead of going through the budget line by line.

"We're not here to do the work I came here to do … this is a huge amount of money for the city," Kroetsch said.

"I've had a surface-level glance [at the budget]."

Menezes said she wanted more information to back up some of the claims by the police service, specifically about how adding more police officers and increasing the budget actually improves safety.

One example she noted was how, during his presentation, Bergen said recent research suggested U.S. cities that defunded police services saw the largest crime growth, but that paper wasn't shown to the board.

Mayor Andrea Horwath, who sits on the board but isn't on the budget committee, said she has "never" served on a board of directors that does line-by-line analysis of a budget and said the board should build on what previous boards have done.

Coun. Esther Pauls abstained from voting to avoid a conflict of interest as her son is a Hamilton police office. She was previously reprimanded for not recusing herself from past votes. 

Pauls did ask Bergen a question, however. She asked how the police budget impacts the city's levy, which Bergen couldn't answer because the city hasn't established its budget for next year. He did say the police service is usually around 18 per cent of the city's levy.

Hamilton police will present its proposed budget to city council on Jan. 22.

How they voted:

In support of the police budget: Bennink, Elms, Horwath, Mandy.

Against the police budget: Kroetsch, Menezes.

Abstained: Pauls.

The full proposed Hamilton police budget for 2024