Ottawa council approves 2% increase in police budget in 2022 – Ottawa | The Canadian News

The Ottawa city council approved the police services board’s two percent budget increase for 2022 after a sometimes contentious debate that found few parties fully satisfied with the funding increase below what was requested.

The Ottawa Police Service will work with a budget of $ 346.5 million in 2022, an increase of $ 11.5 million or two percent from last year’s figures.

The original draft budget of PAHO chief Peter Sloly had requested an increase of 2.86 percent, or an additional $ 2.65 million over what was approved.

But last month the OPSB unanimously approved a smaller increase in response to calls from community advocates to freeze police funds and reallocate services to social services.

The additional $ 2.65 million not allocated to police in the 2022 budget will go towards social services and developing a response system for lower-risk calls, including mental health and addiction crises.

While $ 650,000 of the OPS funding gap will be taken from service reserves, police will now need to find an additional $ 2 million in efficiencies beyond the $ 5.1 million in savings it already included in its draft budget.

Sloly told the council on Wednesday that there will be “significant risks” to policing in Ottawa as a result of reduced funding increases. He said the service would review the budget “line by line” to find the additional $ 2 million in savings and did not rule out cutting the ability of police to respond to calls from the public.

“We will examine each item. That means that we will analyze the police services head-on, ”he said.

He confirmed that there will be no layoffs as a result of the two percent funding increase, but said that PAHO will forgo hiring an additional 30 officers in 2022. However, the force will still add 22 new officers over the course of next year. as you catch up on the hires you had budgeted for in 2021.

Several councilors said Wednesday that while they would support the board’s budget, they were concerned about the effects on service capacity by denying PAHO all of the requested funds.

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“I am very concerned about the steep reduction in the budget for police services,” Innes Coun said. Said Laura Dudas.

But OPSB President Diane Deans said the concerns about service impacts in Ottawa were “alarming” and defended the funding cuts that lobbied the board in an effort to meet community demand to “reimagine” surveillance.

“The sky is not going to fall because we are asking the police service to find $ 2 million in additional efficiencies,” he said.

Mayor Jim Watson said Wednesday that some necessary reforms in municipal policing are at the provincial level. He cited the need for sworn officers to block traffic for Santa Claus parades or give local forces the authority to remove suspended officers from the payroll as a drain on resources that the city is waiting for Ontario to act on.

He also said he is glad to learn that no sworn officials will be fired as a result of the two percent budget increase.

Most of the councilors and the mayor voted in favor of the proposed budget. Among those who voted against it, Council Members Shawn Menard, Catherine McKenney and Jeff Leiper said the two percent increase was too much, while Council Members Rick Chiarelli and Jan Harder said it was not enough.

Meanwhile, community advocates held a sit-in at Ottawa City Hall on Wednesday to protest the city’s general budget bill.

The debate over police funding on Wednesday included a bizarre series of exchanges related to a possible hot mic.

After Harder finished his budget questions to Sloly, the microphone turned to River Coun. Riley Brockington, who began by thanking the police for their work in Ottawa.

Then he can be heard louder saying “shut up, Riley”.

Brockington paused to address the comments briefly before continuing.

After finishing his remarks, Deans asked for a point of privilege to ask Harder to apologize for “non-parliamentary language.”

Watson said she was not in the room when the comment was made, so she was “at a disadvantage.” He called both the assistant secretary and Osgoode Coun. George Darouze, who was chairing the meeting at the time, to comment, but both said they did not hear Harder’s comment.

Harder then spoke directly about Deans’ point.

“Sir. Mayor, if I said that, that’s fine, it was a reaction. But I don’t remember saying it. If I did and that’s what you heard, then it’s unfortunate and I withdraw what I didn’t hear myself say,” he said.