Brantford Police Service budgeting on the right track: board chair

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Brantford Police Service is on the right track after questions were raised about its budgeting, says Coun. Greg Martin.

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“It’s important to remember that a budget is an estimate,” Martin, the chair of the Brantford Police Services Board, said.

“It’s a well-educated guess but something can always pop up and throw a wrench into your plans.”

In 2023, the inability to get new recruits into the police college was the wrench that messed up the service’s plans, contributing to a $1.64 million budget deficit.

The recruits were needed to fill the positions of officers who were off on sick leave. When the new recruits couldn’t get into the police college, other officers were forced to pick up the slack resulting in a much-larger than anticipated bill for overtime.

But circumstances have changed.

The police college has increased the number of intakes of new recruits to four from three to ensure more recruits are trained, Martin said.

“We’re on the right track,” Martin said. “The chief is confident that we can get enough spots at the police college to get the complement back up to where it needs to be.

“That should be a big help in reducing our overtime.”

The hiring of experienced officers from other police services should also help address overtime, Martin said.

Meanwhile, the police budget has risen higher than the rate of inflation in recent years and accounts for about 25 per cent of the city’s budget, up from just over 22 per cent.

“It’s something we’re going to have to keep an eye on in future years to try to keep it under control,” Martin said.

The 2024 police budget, finalized by the city Feb, 20, calls for spending of just under $49.5 million. The figure was reached after some back and forth negotiations between the police services board and city council.

Councillors asked the police board to cut its budget by just over $1 million.

The police board responded by suggesting the city take over the school crossing guard program. The suggestion was not well-received by city councillors, who said it simply moved the cost from one city department to another and didn’t generate any savings.

The police board rescinded its suggestion, took the crossing guard program back and reduced its budget by $916,000.

“Personally, I would have liked to have reduced it a little further by cutting another position or two but there wasn’t support from the board,” Martin said. “There were some good arguments by board members who said that additional employees are needed in the records department to handle work that is being downloaded to the police service by the province.”

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