With priority on police, there's a lot of 'no' in Morgan's proposed budget

London Mayor Josh Morgan released his proposed city budget on Wednesday, with spending prioritized on policing and turning down extra asks in other areas to hold the property tax increase to an average of 7.4 per cent over the next four years. 

The biggest single-year increase in the budget is 8.8 per cent for 2024 with more than half of that — five per cent — going toward policing and public safety. 

In a statement, Morgan called it "the single largest public safety investment in London's history," echoing what he said during his state of the city address: That London needs to catch up when it comes to funding police. 

Morgan is supporting a big budget hike that police are seeking this year, which will raise their budget to $672 million over the life of the four-year budget. 

However sticking to those spending priorities, while avoiding double-digit property tax increases, mean other city boards and agencies won't be getting extra money they've been calling for. 

"I have spent nine years on council, serving as budget chair for two previous multi-year budgets and have never had to say 'no' to as many request for expansion as I have during this process," Morgan said in a statement. 

Morgan said if all the extra increases included in the city staff draft budget are approved, taxpayers would be hit with a 14 per cent increase in 2024. He pointed out that other large- and mid-sized Ontario cities are facing double-digit budget increases as they all face cost-creep on everything from fuel, to staffing contracts, to construction materials. 

Putting a priority on police means tough choices elsewhere in the budget including:

London Library: The library was seeking $24 million above their base budget over the next four years, mainly to fix aging buildings but also to upgrade security, improve the collection and expand digital services. Continuing to have a Canadian Mental Health Association worker in the downtown library full time was also part of their ask. Morgan's budget calls for limiting the library's base budget increase to 5.4 per cent.  Coun. Sam Trosow, who sits on the Library Board, said this will mean all the extra spending won't happen, while the money to fix the buildings is slated to come from a city infrastructure reserve fund, though it's unclear how much money is be available there. 

"I'm going to be pushing for full funding for the library," said Trosow. "The library board did not include fluff in their budget asks." 

London Transit  LTC is seeking $42 million in expanded service hours plus $4.7 million to implement rapid transit service and $7.4 million for zero-emission busses. 

Morgan's proposed budget fully funds the rapid transit but only includes $9 million in service expansions with a priority on increasing paratransit service and the zero-emission buses.

Downtown Washrooms: A request in the staff budget of an extra $1.4 million spread over the next four years to allow washrooms at Victoria Park and the Dundas Field House (near Richmond) to stay open 12 hours a day doesn't have Morgan's full approval. He's suggesting $150,000 a year with staff to determine how to allocate the hours. 

Other asks, such as $2.8 million to support repairs to Covent Garden Market's garage and $1 million to enhance Grand Theatre's offerings, were also not supported in Morgan's budget. 

So what happens now? 

Allowing a mayor to prepare and submit for consideration a budget that's separate from the one compiled by city staff is a new wrinkle to this year's budget process. It comes as part of the so-called "strong mayor powers" that came with new provincial legislation.

Council has 30 days to amend the mayor's budget, followed by a 10-day period where the mayor can veto council amendments to it. Council can then override the mayor's veto by a two-thirds majority vote. 

Public consultations on the budget written by city staff continue through February before it's due for final approval in March. 

You can read more about the budget process here.