Victoria council refused a request from the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board to reconsider $1.7 million in proposed cuts to its 2023 budget.
Instead, council members voted to only receive a letter from the board in which the request was made.
Council had suggested the police budget could do without one of the three new frontline officers — a combined $425,000 line item — the department requested, a financial analyst at $85,000 a year, a police file archivist at $56,250, a records supervisor at $92,000 and a training specialist at $89,000.
Other proposed cuts included a body-worn camera pilot project that was to start this year, which would save $150,000, trimming building maintenance to $321,000, saving about $640,000; reducing the budget for contract workers to $1.26 million from $1.6 million; and trimming the capital budget to $1.2 million from $1.5 million.
The proposed cuts reflect a seven per cent trim to the police board’s draft budget of $69.5 million, which included a 9.6 per cent increase in costs driven largely by increased salaries.
The police board’s letter, drafted by Doug Crowder, chair of its finance committee, noted the board remains convinced that increase is needed to provide an effective level of policing.
He wrote that while cuts would have an operational impact, the board would be willing to go along with some of the suggested cuts and defer those costs to 2024.
However, Crowder wrote, the board identified four items worth $433,250 that would have a direct detrimental impact and that it insists must remain in the budget — the financial analyst, records supervisor, archivist and a portion of the professional services council wanted to cut.
Victoria council was not moved, though Coun. Marg Gardiner tried unsuccessfully to convince her colleagues to include the $433,250 in the city’s budget.
Under the Police Act, city council has the right not to approve items in the draft police budget.
Mayor Marianne Alto, co-chair of the police board, has said she expects the budget impasse will lead to a lengthy appeal process that will ultimately have the province decide what will and won’t be funded.
Victoria is responsible for 86.33 per cent of the police budget, with Esquimalt picking up the rest of the tab.
