Did I expect just a little more fuss from Barrie councillors about this year’s police budget, presented Feb. 1?
Yes I did, and here’s why.
It asks for a 7.28 per cent increase in the amount Barrie property taxpayers will pay for their policing this year, or another $4.29 million, for a total of $63.24 million in city funding.
It’s not like city councillors ignored all of these large numbers, however.
Deputy Mayor Robert Thomson, who's also vice-chairman of the Barrie Police Services Board, called them “a large ask.”
Coun. Bryn Hamilton, who was first elected last October, called it “a substantial increase.”
But not one councillor said an increase of this magnitude was too much, especially with people’s pennies already being pinched by higher gas prices, bigger grocery bills and inflation — although jacking interest rates, seemingly every few weeks, is wrestling inflation to the ground, more less, or so the Bank of Canada says anyway.
Not one of our local elected officials said if Barrie police get all this money, there won’t be enough left for roadwork, city parks, our libraries, recreation centres, winter control, and even getting rid of what the geese leave at our waterfront.
Of course, an argument can be made that the Feb. 1 presentation wasn’t the time or place to say the police budget is too expensive.
That would be this week, scheduled for Feb. 8-9, when Barrie councillors have what they call "budget deliberations."
That’s the time for sharp pencils, or so the argument goes, to take a hard look at public money being spent and, just as important for the public relations aspect of councillors, the property tax rate.
Heading into budget talks, homeowners face a 3.95 per cent property tax increase in the city’s 2023 operating and capital budgets, which includes approving police spending. This increase would mean $182 more for a typical Barrie home assessed at $365,040, making this year’s property taxes on that home $4,794.
Spending considerably less on policing could maybe significantly lower that burden.
But it says here that won’t happen, and for two good reasons.
One, Barrie is a relatively safe Canadian city and city police get and deserve much of the credit. When was the last time you heard much about defunding Barrie police, cutting their budget by 10 per cent or spending that money on social workers?
But second, and just as importantly from a practical viewpoint, the police budget really isn’t a budget. It’s an invoice, a bill for services, because the police themselves decide how best to police Barrie. The city just gets the bill.
Which, by the way, is a good thing. We don’t want politicians or bureaucrats deciding when downtown Barrie needs foot patrols, or where the speed or RIDE patrols should be located, or when to tell residents a convicted criminal has moved into their neighbourhood.
Sure, the police try to spend what they say they will spend, from year to year.
But serious criminal investigations don’t stop when the overtime budget runs out of money.
Officers who need to be in court during their holidays get compensated, even if the budget is exceeded.
You get what you pay for in policing, as in much of life.
That doesn’t mean Barrie councillors shouldn’t take a very hard look at police spending and try to find savings. That’s their job.
But I don’t expect them to find much, or at least find savings that won’t be spent anyway this year.
Because councillors had the opportunity to figuratively hold police feet to the fire on Feb. 1.
They did not. Most of the questions were lobbed, and of the softball variety.
In fact, they gave Barrie Public Library officials a tougher time about their budget.
So the 2023 police budget is unlikely to change in any substantial way. Mostly because it’s not really a budget.
Bob Bruton covers city council for BarrieToday. He will be listening to council’s budget talks this week.
