Police board defers council's request for budget answers
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Brantford Police Services Board is declining the city’s request to have the police chief appear at next week’s finance committee meeting to answer questions about this year’s $1.7 million policing deficit and a projected budget increase next year of 16.4 per cent.
“We have nothing to hide,” said Chief Rob Davis, who appeared virtually at the board meeting, “but I’m concerned about the danger of precedent. If we answer all of these questions, are we affirming they can ask anything, every month?”
According to the Ontario Police Services Act, municipalities are to provide their police boards with funding for adequate and effective policing with boards acting independently.
Davis characterized the Nov. 15 finance committee meeting where he was peppered with questions he couldn’t answer off the top of his head as “an ambush.”
The chief said he was taken aback to find Coun. Greg Martin, who is chair of the police board, was also chair of the finance committee at that time, and Mayor Kevin Davis, who also sits on the police board, posing many questions.
“This is your budget,” Davis told the board. “The board approved this budget.”
The board agreed to look into the city’s list of 18 questions, including how much was being spent on legal fees and meals; why the vehicle lease account went up so substantially; why there was a sudden need for new handguns; and how finances were being monitored monthly.
But board member Allan Lovett suggested deferring the answers until the board could look at them and removing those that fall under operational procedures. Lovett said the board should remind council that the board is still in budget deliberations and will provide a written report later.
“We have the means to answer all of them but the question is, how do we want to respond?” Lovett said.
“Are we setting a precedent that we have to return to city council every few months to answer why our fuel costs are so high? We have to caution council on overstepping and micromanaging.”
A former long-time employee of Brantford Police had some additional questions.
The board received a letter in its package from an “appalled” Cathy Drinkwater, a retired records manager, asking specifically if the board had been examining the budget monthly before the $1.7 million deficit was found.
“Council can and should push forward with accountability for unbudgeted items and better communication with respect to expenditures,” said the letter.
“I feel any agency/business with a $44-million budget needs to be accountable and fiscally responsible for spending.”
The board didn’t address the letter but received it as information.
The service’s second chief financial officer in two years, Tareq El-Ahmed, said an investigation into underfunding, which led to much of the deficit, may have been caused by a misplaced decimal point in the previous year.
Chair Martin asked again that the board receive reports that show actual spending for the current and previous years.
“Without that information, we’re doing a guess based on a guess based on a guess. We need the actual to make sure you’re staying on track.”
The chief went over aspects of the upcoming budget, which is still under consideration.
Initially, it called for 19 per cent increase to $53.2 million but, in this week’s report, was down to a 16.4 per cent increase.
Much of the increase is due to wages and benefits, including contracted amounts the board has no control over, and other services that are mandated by the province.
Highest on the chief’s priority list is the need for eight new hires, running about $401,000, in the records department which prepares Crown briefs that are critical in court cases.
“The sheer volume of requests we’re seeing (means) we are struggling under the workload. When we lay a charge, we have to gather the evidence for the prosecution.”
Approval of 10 new special constables, needed to cover court security, will mean another $454,000 and five new fourth class constables is $194,000.
Davis said some of the positions can be deferred until later in the year to save funds.
In fourth priority is a request for five more workers in the communications department that handles calls for service.
“The city is growing and our calls for service are similar to bigger cities. We need the proper staff to address it.”
Chief Davis also talked about what he called persistent “misinformation” that Brantford Police are very short-staffed.
“Our service really needs to grow,” said the chief, but “we don’t have a staffing problem. We have an attendance problem.”
Davis said he has 10 officers on WSIB, six away on maternity or paternity leave and one seconded to the coroner’s office.
“Yesterday we had four more cadets graduate from the police college and six more are going to the college. But rumours keep circulating that we’re short-staffed.”
Brantford Police Association president Jeremy Morton disagreed with that assessment, saying the service is running 16 days below its complement. He added that BPA has “run the numbers” and found sick days among officers averages five days per year.
“Members come to work unwell. Morale is terrible and our members continue to show up and provide great services to the community,” he said.
SGamble@postmedia.com
@EXPSGamble
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