Thunder Bay police propose $54.6M operations budget, $2.8M for capital spending in 2024

The Thunder Bay Police Service's oversight board has signed off on the force's 2024 proposed budget, which seeks $54.6 million for net operating costs and a $2.8-million net capital budget.

The figures still need to be approved by city councillors during their 2024 budget process early next year. They will likely seek millions in cuts and savings, setting up a debate over taxes and service levels. 

"The 2024 budget represents an appropriate balance in addressing key recommendations from past reports, supporting the needs of the Thunder Bay Police Service, improving public safety, while respecting the fiscal challenges facing the municipality," Denise Baxter, the board's vice-chair, said in a media release. 

The $54.6-million operations budget is a roughly $2.3-million increase, or 4.5 per cent, compared to 2023 and would pay for recruiting more front-line officers, reorganizing staff, increasing workers' compensation claims for members on leave and increasing costs to outsource criminal records check services, according to the board.  

The $2.8-million net capital budget is a $636,500, or 29 per cent, increase compared to last year.

 Police board under administrator until March

The Thunder Bay Police Service Board will remain under the oversight of administrator Malcolm Mercer until March. He was appointed in 2022 after building pressure and scrutiny on the force. 

Over the past two years, the service and its oversight board have faced turmoil and controversy, including: 

• A series of human rights complaints filed by Thunder Bay police officers, members of the public and a former police oversight board chair, most of which remain unresolved, according to Tribunals Ontario. 
• The creation of an expert panel that produced a 200-page report earlier this year aimed at addressing the erosion of trust and police morale.  
• Separate suspensions of its former police chief — who retired before the accusations against her were tested in a hearing — and the deputy police chief, who was reinstated in February.
• A report from the Broken Trust investigative team that called for the reinvestigation of the deaths of 14 Indigenous people, plus coroner's reviews on two other deaths. 
• Calls from First Nations leaders in the region to disband the service and fully account for documented systemic racism within the police force.
• The resignation of three of the oversight board's five members.

In 2023, the service hired a new chief, Darcy Fleury, who has committed to reform while the board has been reconstituted with local and provincial appointees.