Police budget increase leads to frank talk on OPP costing

According to budget discussions held Monday at North Bay City Hall, the levy increase from the North Bay Police Service that is hovering around 10 per cent is due to the cost to recruit and pay new officers to fill the gaps left by 16 NBPS officers who are off on medical leave.

"There is a substantial number of police officers off on WSIB due to PTSD concerns. The Police Board made the decision, and the previous council was informed," said Mayor Peter Chirico.

NBPS was forced to hire 10 experienced officers "knowing full well it would impact the 2023 budget," the mayor added. "This is the main reason for the increase. They have staffing levels to maintain adequate safety."

See related: 2023 Budget talks open with a 5.77 per cent levy increase

And: 2023 Budget: 'Core mandates' above granting financial support requests

Coun. Gary Gardiner acknowledged there has been an appetite over the past several years to have an analysis done to see how much the OPP's services in North Bay would cost but now doubts it would be a prudent move for the municipality.

"It's very expensive, the policing costs. And, we have no say in their budget, anyway."

"I know people are going to fight to talk about OPP costing but in this case, there's no way to go to that model," Gardiner continued. "It's impossible because we cannot terminate. 

"We have a lot of officers on medical leave. We cannot terminate, we have to buy them out. It would cost millions upon millions of dollars. Because of this, we can't. So, I don't really want to talk about OPP costing. We can't do it."

Staffing issues, according to Gardiner's research are a common problem across the province with over 1,000 officers off on PTSD leave.

"It's a problem shared by all police forces, and unfortunately, there's nothing we can do right now," Gardiner said to his colleagues. "We're stuck with it."

Deputy Mayor Maggie Horsfield, who, like Chirico is a member of the Police Board, said all 10 hires are accounted for in the budget with the understanding five additional cadets will be added to the department this year.

The NBPS budget received preliminary approval. CFO Margaret Karpenko shared the NBPS levy increase was recently lowered from the submitted 11.38 per cent to 10.6 per cent due to government funding for prisoner transport in the amount of $161,421. The 2023 NBPS budget is approximately $25.1 million with a levy increase of  $2.4 million over the approved 2022 budget of $22.7 million.