Unless Peterborough’s police leadership has suddenly flipped its funding expectation, policing costs could again be a major sore point during city council’s annual budget talks.

A preliminary staff budget forecast endorsed by council this week targets 6.6 per cent as the 2027 property tax increase. An average homeowner would pay about $5,970.

The annual June report is a nine-page early look at what will expand into hundreds of pages of detail on roughly $450 million in operating costs, plus capital spending.

City police are pencilled in for a four per cent increase, $1.65 million more than last year.

That is a modest projection relative to the past four years.

Beginning in 2023, council agreed to a five-year plan for police to add 49 new uniform officers and civilian staff.

Since then, new hiring has averaged 10 bodies a........

© Peterborough Examiner