The New Westminster police board has unanimously supported a 2023 provisional operating budget calling for an 11.9 per cent increase over the 2022 budget.
As its Nov. 29 meeting, the board approved a provisional budget for the New Westminster Police Department, thereby meeting the requirements of the Police Act that its provisional budget be approved by Nov. 30. The $3,112,500 budget increase over the NWPD’s 2022 budget includes increases related to salaries and benefits, contracted services, and education and training.
Chief Const. Dave Jansen said there is no doubt that the proposed $29.26-million budget is significant in its potential impact on the city’s budgeting process.
“What is also clear is that without the proposed increases, the decisions that will need to be made will be difficult and will be impactful to our service delivery,” he said. “We have seen the impact of several years of not adjusting staffing challenges as our population-to-cop numbers increased in the last 20 years. Now we have the highest differential of any in the region.”
According to a report by Jansen, the NWPD had a 716:1 population-to-cop ratio in 2020; back in 2002, New Westminster had one of the lower pop-to-cop ratios among municipal police departments in B.C. at 511:1.
“At the same time, our budget has grown the least, percentage-wise, of any of the regional municipal policing agencies, and our growth in members is the second lowest among these same comparators,” he told the board. “We cannot continue to see these discrepancies as it impacts public safety and ultimately our own staff’s mental health. On an increasing basis, I’m being asked by the community, businesses and the city’s own staff for an increased police presence that I just cannot provide.”
At its Nov. 29 meeting, the police board heard from a Front Street business owner who appealed for more police patrols in that neighbourhood to improve safety and livability. The meeting’s agenda also included letters from numerous downtown businesses supporting a budget increase for increased foot/bike patrols and a vulnerable person liaison officer.
Jacqueline Dairon, finance supervisor at the New Westminster Police Department, said the budget increases include some non-discretionary fixed costs (including salaries and benefits reflecting increases associated with the new collective agreement), non-discretionary cost downloads (including costs related to increases to for EComm services, salaries for the non-emergency line and increased funding for training new recruits at the Justice Institute of B.C.) and some budget enhancements. Proposed budget enhancements include $150,000 to support an additional missing person investigator, $199,000 for additional clerical staff to support non-emergency call takers and $655,000 to support a “backfill strategy” that seeks to fill one-third of the positions it’s deemed are required to provide adequate policing.
Board endorses budget
On Nov. 23, the police board and city council held a joint meeting to discuss the NWPD’s 2023 budget.
After meeting with council and reading all the correspondence from downtown businesses, police board member Heather Boersma said she stands behind the request being put forward. She said the board understands it’s working in the context of city budgets, but it also understands it has to balance that with what the community wants.
“I think we are in a different place than we were a couple of years ago where people were saying ‘defund the police’ – people are actually wanting that support within the community,” she said.
Police board member Drew Hart agreed the plan being put forward would deal with some of the issues being brought forward from the community.
Mayor Patrick Johnstone, chair of the police board, said it’s a challenging time financially for many departments in the city. He said he appreciates the challenges the police department is facing with staffing and the approach it’s taking to “backfill” positions to make sure it has the proper staffing complement.
Johnstone said he appreciates the work that’s gone into making the police department’s budget “defensible and understandable” for conversations regarding the city’s budget.
“I am going to have to sell the idea of budget increases at a time when people are really feeling the pinch in the community,” he told the board. “Having the detail that was provided in the budget helps make it easier for me to talk about that … I feel confident in being able to defend the proposal we are putting before council.”
The police board unanimously supported the budget, which will be considered by city council in early 2023.
In a Nov. 23 report to council and the police board, Jansen said the NWPD’s 2023 budget provides the basis for work on the department’s new strategic plan and starts to address capacity, inflationary and downloading costs that impact service delivery.
As part of the 2023 to 2027 financial plan, New Westminster city council recently approved utility rates for 2023. In January, council will begin considering capital and operating budgets, including the NWPD’s budget.
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Email tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca
