Regional council has given Waterloo Regional Police Service the green light to hire an additional 35 officers next year.
Council approved the police services' 2022 operating budget Wednesday at the recommended tax levy of $195.7 million after hearing from dozens of delegations over the last month asking the region to deny the budget increase.
Many want the money to be reallocated to mental health and social services, equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and affordable housing supports as a way to reduce crime.
Prompted by the police services board, WRPS took some of those sentiments back to its finance department last week to reconsider its original requested budget increase of $12.4 million.
That work led to a $2.07 million reduction approved by the police services board earlier in the day.
The reduction was driven by adjustments to the hire dates of the 35 full-time equivalent positions, a transfer of funds from their general reserve, and a projected surplus in their 2021 operating budget.
But it wasn’t enough for some regional councillors.
In presenting an alternative for council to consider during budget deliberations earlier in the evening, Coun. Tom Galloway suggested approving an overall police budget of $195.2 million instead, about $500,000 less than the $195.7 million recommended by the board.
He said the WRPS is known to be one of the most innovative and progressive police forces in the province, if not Canada.
“But unfortunately like all other services is stymied by an antiquated legislative and regulatory framework.”
Speaking from his experience as former chair of the police board, Galloway said the system is seriously fractured and unsustainable, not only financially but from an outcomes perspective.
He went on to clarify it’s the system that’s the problem, not the staff, who he called very dedicated people with almost no exceptions.
Outcome issues, he said, include incident clearing rates, staff well-being issues, disproportionate harm to marginalized and racialized groups and a “volatile citizen sense of safety.”
Financially, he said, the service is unsustainable because it’s marked by annual budget increases close to two times the rate of inflation.
He said the latest budget request from the board reduced the original budget ask by $2 million by dipping into reserve funds and shifting the hiring of new officers to the end of the year to annualize the increase to 2023, and called it an example of unsustainable practice that predicts a 2023 budget increase of 8.6 per cent and $16.8 million.
“I cannot in good conscience saddle the new council with this legacy and cannot support the request,” he said.
He proposed a one-time $500,000 transition fund to help reduce calls for service and build new capacity in the police service by designing alternative delivery models for things like mental health crisis and drug overdose response that aren’t appropriate for policing.
Further to that, Galloway said it would help the region advocate for changes to legislation to allow possession of small amounts of controlled substances and allow for programs that provide safe drug supply to users to reduce “thousands of minor crime calls.”
Galloway also wants to see regulatory changes that support police system reform at the provincial level and fund upstream initiatives.
He said his plan to provide $1.5 million in annual investments to upstream work would support “empirical and overwhelming” evidence that shows dealing with the social determinants of health and the root causes of crime, not only improve human outcomes, but have a financial benefit to the point of becoming self-funded over time.
“One of the reasons police are stretched now is that they’re responding to far too many calls that other social services would be better placed to respond to,” Coun. Elizabeth Clarke said in supporting Galloway's motion.
“This isn’t a revolutionary motion. It’s an incremental one. It’s small steps but it’s steps that go in the direction I think we all understand we need to go in,” she said.
Explaining how much of the motion matched a motion he wanted to put forward, Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic suggested an amendment instead, adding $600,000 to Galloway’s upstream funding pitch to generate $2.1 annually.
But he couldn't support reducing the budget request further.
“We cannot think that a growing community of 630,000 people can continue to build a safe community with proportionally decreased police resources,” he said.
He agreed the region needs to rethink the way it does things but that police resources are necessary now to deal with emergencies.
The rest of council liked the idea of adding more funding to upstream services, but most weren’t in favour of further reducing next year’s operating budget.
Council heard that if they proposed anything different than the budget request the police services board brought forward, it would be up to the board to either negotiate or refer the matter to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission for a determination.
Regional Chair Karen Redman said her reason for not supporting Galloway’s motion to reduce the overall police budget even further is what she feels is a desperate need to close the staffing gap in policing.
With 187 staff per 100,000 population, WRPS has the third lowest ratio of staffing in the country and is sitting at the median level among upper tier municipalities.
“We have asked the chief to take a longitudinal look at this,” she said.
WRPS also provides $5.8 million in regional support through various services that benefit the greater community with no cost recovery, she added.
Coun. Sandy Shantz said she also couldn’t support the reduction knowing the region’s population is expected to nearly double over the next 10 years.
“If we are to wait to deal with the increase in crime that comes along with that growth, we’re just going to be behind the eight ball,” she said.
Based on numbers in peer municipalities, Shantz said, the region will still be 65 officers short with the 35 new hires scheduled for 2022.
Shantz also thought the region’s move to add additional funding for upstream social services next year is sufficient.
Coun. Karl Kiefer said he “very strongly feels the need to put forward the budget as proposed” and said he would support any move to advocate for changes in the policing system at the provincial level instead. He called it "the elephant in the room."
Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry agreed, saying most of the correspondence she’s received from Cambridge based residents indicates “they really want to ensure that we allocate enough police resources and officers to meet their expectations.”
McGarry said numbers in comparator cities, particularly along the Highway 401 corridor where crimes are increasing, were enough to convince her to support the budget as presented.
“We’re experiencing a tremendous amount of growth and an increase in serious crimes and even though Waterloo region has been a pretty safe community...we also note some disturbing trends,” she said.
But North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton said the same request for more officers has been happening every year since the early ’90s.
“That tells me something’s broken. You can put a lot more officers on, but the problem seems to be the same, year after year,” she said. “Something is not working.”
“Will throwing more officers at the problem solve it? In 30 years, I have not seen it once,” she added.
“We need these upstream programs and we need them guaranteed and make sure they stay forever. Then every year we won’t need more officers because we’ll have dealt with the problem where it started.”
The police service’s operating budget increase of $10.4 million over last year, adds 1.26 per cent, or about $33, on the regional tax bill and represents a 3.96 per cent increase just on the police portion.
The police budget includes a $202 million 10-year capital program funded through development charges, reserve funds and property tax debentures with close to $48 million scheduled to be spent in 2022.
After discussing the police budget, council quickly approved the 2022 operating budget with a 3.03 per cent tax increase that, with the police increase, will bump the region's portion of the property tax bill by $96 for the average household.
The average assessed value of homes in the region is $354,500 based on the latest MPAC assessment from 2016.
The budget includes more than $152 million for upstream services like affordable housing, child care, public health, equity and reconciliation, employment and income supports.
Affordable housing projects in the plan will create 2,500 affordable units over five years, support delivery of an affordable rent assistance program and improve shelter capacity.
It includes a $10 million to deliver initiatives that improve the social and economic health and well being of Indigenous, Black, African, Caribbean, racialized and other marginalized communities.
Overall, the region is investing more than $375 million in upstream programs and services next year, including $16 million in incremental, ongoing funding.
