Divided Region of Waterloo council votes not to send police budget back

A tie vote Wednesday night showed just how divided Region of Waterloo councillors are over the $214 million police budget.

Just after 11 p.m., councillors were asked to support a motion to send the proposed police budget back to the Waterloo Regional Police Services board to see where they could make cuts. The 8-8 vote meant the motion failed, so the budget will not be sent back.

It does not mean the police budget has been approved, though. Regional councillors are expected to give final approval for the 2023 budget — which includes the police budget — on Feb. 22.

The vote came after a lengthy day of budget discussions and an evening meeting where members of the public shared their hopes and concerns for this year's regional budget.

People who spoke at the meeting addressed issues such as arts funding, housing and homelessness, decriminalization and funding for various community services but many of the people who spoke to council addressed the police budget.

That included Kitchener resident Ann Marie Beals, who called on councillors to reject the police budget as presented.

"You want less crime in the region? Then instead of increasing an already bloated police budget, invest the money in housing, health care, education and land back and providing opportunities for the rights of all community members," they said. 

"Your hands are not tied, councillors. You have the power to say no."

Asma Al-wahsh, the CEO and founder of the Canadian Arab Women's Association, spoke highly of a partnership her organization had with police to create a 10-week program to teach people about various issues gangs, human trafficking, domestic abuse, hate crimes and cyber crimes.

"For most of the program participants, this was the first time they received information on these topics," she said.

She said her association and police were able to "come together and start a dialogue."

Police have asked for $214 million, an increase of nearly $14 million from the 2022 budget. The budget includes plans by the service to hire 19 new officers.

Heated debate

Coun. Rob Deutschmann, who represents Kitchener, brought forward the motion to send the budget back to the police board.

He said he had concerns the police budget could result in the police service having a surplus in the coming fiscal year because the service would allocate funding for 19 new officers retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year, even though the officers wouldn't be hired until April.

"We are the people that are responsible for the funds that we collect from the community. We have a trust with respect to those funds," he said.

"We cannot fund a surplus and we have an ability to create more opportunities to help out the local social agencies like the ones we heard from tonight, who are doing great work crime prevention work."

Coun. Doug Craig, who represents Cambridge, was clear he would not support Deutschmann's motion and said he worried about the rhetoric he was hearing about the police budget.

"Whether it was intentional or not, we've essentially ... scapegoated the police in this region," he said and questioned how members of the police service "feel after watching what's happened tonight."

"I don't blame the delegations," Craig said. "I don't think we've given the delegations enough information about what really is going on about the constraints we have with all the upstream services that we want to provide that we can't because of the limited limitations on funding that we get from the province and the feds."

Coun. Colleen James, who represents Kitchener, told council she received emails throughout the meeting from people calling on council to reject the budget.

"I'm sitting here as a Black woman knowing that there's work to do," she said.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with us as council having leadership and saying, 'Hold on a second, there is a lot of questions that need to be answered. There is clarification that needs to happen' and it is our due diligence to ensure that we do what we need to to come to a collective agreement about this final overall regional budget."

Regional council is expected to pass the full regional budget at its scheduled meeting on Feb. 22.

WATCH | Regional councillors debate motion on whether to send police budget back to police services board:

How the vote went

On a motion to send the police budget back to the police services board, below is how councillors voted.

In favour:

• Coun. Rob Deutschmann.
• North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton.
• Coun. Chantal Huinink.
• Coun. Colleen James.
• Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe.
• Wilmot Mayor Natasha Salonen.
• Coun. Kari Williams.
• Coun. Pam Wolf.

Opposed:

• Chair Karen Redman.
• Coun. Doug Craig.
• Coun. Jim Erb.
• Coun. Michael Harris.
• Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett.
• Wellesley Mayor Joe Nowak.
• Woolwich Mayor Sandy Shantz.
• Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic.