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Ottawa police introduced in a finances with a 2.5 per cent tax enhance as directed by metropolis council, however Chief Eric Stubbs warned the drive gained’t be capable of maintain that line once more subsequent yr.
The draft finances, accepted by the Ottawa Police Companies Board on Monday, requires $415.5 million in spending, a rise of $13.4 million from the yr earlier than. That enhance comes from a 2.5 per cent tax enhance and an anticipated 1.5 per cent progress within the metropolis’s evaluation base in 2024.
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The finances consists of hiring 25 full-time workers.
However the police service’s three-year strategic plan requires 550 new workers, together with 435 uniformed officers.
“The primary yr, the hiring we’re in a position to will we’re in a position to meet that plan with the finances pointers this yr,” Stubbs advised reporters. “Nevertheless, in Yr 2 and Yr 3 it does get costlier and we’d be needing extra of a proportion enhance to be assembly the hiring targets of that plan.”
However there are too many variables to foretell what that future enhance could be, Stubbs stated. For instance, subsequent yr the police service and the police affiliation shall be bargaining a brand new contract.
“There’s quite a lot of completely different dynamics in a specific yr. I need to get via this yr’s finances first,” he stated.
Earlier this month, police broke floor on a brand new station within the metropolis’s south finish, a part of its transfer to a brand new four-district patrol community. However police have deferred different initiatives, together with implementing body-worn cameras, which was to have occurred in 2024 however is now pushed till 2025. Stubbs promised {that a} pilot undertaking for the physique cameras would start “quickly”.
The finances, which should nonetheless be accepted by metropolis council at its Dec. 10 assembly, equates to a rise of about $17 on a mean home-owner’s tax invoice.
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