The Halifax board of police commissioners will be discussing a new budgeting process among other items at its meeting Wednesday.
A report prepared for the meeting notes that as the Halifax Regional Police budget becomes more complex and increasingly scrutinized, it has caused some uncertainty in the municipality’s overall budget process as the police budget work extends into the overall budget process and could push it into the new fiscal year. That, in turn, could result in plans not being executed on time or having project/services implementations paused.
The report says having a set date for the budget to be delivered to council will reduce the risk of the HRP budget timeline delaying the ratification of the municipality’s overall budget and the setting of tax rates for the year.
Currently the operating budget process for HRP begins when the department receives a budget target from the municipality around mid-October. Targets are completed before the budget direction is approved by the budget committee and targets are adjusted accordingly. The objective of the targets is to determine the expected cost of the existing municipal services plus any council-approved changes to services.
If HRP cannot accommodate all its budget pressures within its budget target, the department meets with the chief financial officer to discuss the challenges and prepare a new budget based on new targets. The new business plan then goes to the board under the Police Act, although the board can only recommend changes and doesn’t have the authority to approve it. The board recommends the budget to regional council’s budget committee during scheduled business plan and budget presentations.
But if the committee requests a change to the budget, the police department has to send the revised budget to the board for approval again before it is sent back to the committee.
The capital budget could have similar difficulties, so the board is being asked to consider a new schedule.
