Ottawa police facing $6M deficit if pandemic continues

Ottawa police are expecting to end the year at least $5.9 million in the red if COVID-19 measures remain in place until December, or $1.4 million if restrictions are lifted by the end of June.

The situation is so dire that members of the Ottawa Police Services board didn't think they could afford to waive the $20 background check fee requested by Volunteer Ottawa for people helping others deal with the consequences of the pandemic.

The projections were presented by Jeff Letourneau, the force's chief administrative officer, to the board's finance committee on Tuesday afternoon. Letourneau warned these projection do not include possible revenue shortfalls from red light camera tickets, nor do they take into account the likely shortfall in the city's overall revenue.

The latter point is significant as the majority of the police's expenses are covered in the city's general budget. The city is expecting a $250-million budget hole this year, and is expecting to take in less money from growth-based property taxes as construction has slowed to a crawl during the pandemic emergency measures.

Cutting costs, not filling jobs

If the city directs the police service to absorb its share of the cash flow shortfall, the impact on the police budget would be "material," Letourneau said.

The police service's gross operating budget for 2020 is more than $360 million, but most of that money is earmarked for compensation, so finding $6 million could be tricky.

Most of the deficit will come from a fall in police revenues, especially from significant security contracts such as the one the police servie has with the Ottawa International Airport, and from other services like background checks. However, the board's finance committee heard that the force has found millions in short-term savings as well.

All travel and discretionary spending was halted last month, and police should see savings in fuel consumption and overtime, which has declined in recent weeks, as has sick leave. It's also looking at keeping some job vacancies open longer than planned to save money.

Mayor Jim Watson, who's a member of the committee, asked if police could be put on a vehicle "diet" — the idea being that putting off vehicle purchases for a year could save money in the current fiscal period. But the committee heard the police force did just that in 2017, and has been paying higher maintenance costs since.

'Home-schooling' new recruits

Earlier this year, the board agreed to fast-track the hiring of 100 new recruits. Forty-eight of those were hired in February and are on the payroll, but aren't being trained because the Ontario Police College is currently closed.

However, Chief Peter Sloly said the college is looking at "home-schooling" options, where the local police service could help with the training of recruits from eastern Ontario. Sloly suggested this model could become a revenue generator for Ottawa police in the future.

The chief and his leadership team are scheduled to have further meetings with the mayor's office on Thursday about a number of COVID-19 issues.