Skip to content

City Police meet the Budget Crunch

2016 Police Budget increase just under 2%.
policebudgetnov2015

The North Bay Police Services Board accepted the 2016 North Bay Police Services operating budget proposal this morning at a special budget meeting at police headquarters.   

The proposed budget came in at $17,354,902, which translates to a 1.9 percent increase from the 2015 operating budget.

Deputy Chief Shawn Devine outlined the budget which has been in the works for six month now.  

He says safety benefits and overtime accounts for 90% of this budget, while the other 10% is divided into the police services board, administration, emergency law enforcement, traffic, communications, maintenance of quarters, uniforms, equipment, fleet, training, and information services.

Devine says with benefit increases projected to go up by $149,000 in 2016, trying to find savings was a real challenge.  

“I have to credit our financial people and our human resource people for the effort they have done on that,” said Devine noting other increases, which combined for another $87,500.   

“Our budget process is very inclusive, we try to include as many section heads as we can to make savings so we really did scrutinize the process this year.”   

Mayor Al McDonald was impressed with the numbers as he explained that all budgets are difficult to put together and the city and council are wrestling with budget numbers every day.   

“We sent a letter to all our agencies, boards and commissions asking if they would keep their budget at two percent or less,” said McDonald after the 20 minute meeting. 

“We are very pleased that the police services board and the chief and deputy chief brought in a budget of 1.9 percent under the request from city council so I wanted to thank them for respecting the wishes of council and doing everything they could to assist us in our budget process.”   

Devine says any police budget is based on assumptions and he says there is still more work to do in negotiating a contract with the the Police Association.

“We are presently still in contract negotiation, so trying to predict what wage increases will be or not, where salary increases will be, is always challenging when you don’t exactly know what those numbers are going to be,” admitted Devine.   



Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
Read more

Reader Feedback