A 20-minute police budget ‘review’ just doesn’t cut it |
Maybe the members of Police Services Board (PSB) should have played a couple of rounds of bridge to kill time, so it at least looked as if they had given some consideration to council’s direction to look for efficiencies aimed at reducing its requested 9.22 per cent increase in the 2026 budget.
Instead, after 20 minutes behind closed doors, they emerged with not one efficiency, not one reduction in answer to council’s request. There’s a certain arrogance in that. That’s something of which the elected officials on the PSB (Mayor Jeff Leal and Coun. Gary Baldwin) should beware with an election looming in less than a year. Best they be seen as supporting council’s position.
But, back to the issue at hand.
The 9.2 per cent the police are asking for equates to $3.5 million. Since 2022, the police budget has increased by 48 per cent, or $13........