Thunder Bay police chief, oversight board defend budget increases as city aims to balance books

As councillors in Thunder Bay, Ont., wade through the proposed 2024 budget, the city's police service and oversight boardare seeking big pieces of the municipal pie.

The Thunder Bay Police Service Board (TBPSB) is requesting a budget of $964,900 a 34 per cent increase over last year. The Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) is looking for a $54.6-million operating budget an increase of 4.5 per cent and $2.8-million net capital budget a jump of 29 per cent.

If the city's tax levy was broken down into one dollar, police services would make up 21 cents.

Since the proposed budget was released, an additional $250,000 has been requested related to a spike in criminal record checks costs, which are performed by the Cobourg Police Service.

Representatives of the board and police service addressed council Tuesday night to justify their requests, with the police service pointing out that its operating budget ask is the second lowest in Ontario among comparable services.

Meanwhile, long-time Coun. Andrew Foulds suggested the city take a more proactive approach than continually upping the police budget.

"I'm really struggling with why we aren't making more of an upstream investment," Foulds said, recommendingmore recreational programs for youth and education for seniors to help them avoid scams and home takeovers.

Policing pressures versus prevention

There are a number of factors driving this year's increases, most notably personnel services and costs related to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

"The budget for these has not been sufficiently adjusted in the past to address the rising trend," says the city's 2024 budget overview document.

Meanwhile, the service is dealing with a violent crime severity index which far exceeds provincial and national averages, an increase in overdoses and thousands of hours spent on mental-health related calls, said police Chief Darcy Fleury.

Another issue is the city's lack of coroner services, which cost the TBPS nearly $280,000 last year.

As for Coun. Foulds' concerns, Fleuryresponded by first outlining the force's three key priorities: restructuring the organization, improving community engagement, and enforcement. He then saidthat while the TBPSis working with social service agencies, "for any really solid crime prevention program, you really don't want to have the police directing it, you want to have them being a part of it."

Fleury said he wants to see a bigger push for a national crime prevention strategy, which would ease pressures on the municipality while addressing systemic problems around mental health and substance use.

Budget chair Coun. Mark Bentz said he supports more investments in crime prevention, but recognizes it's largely up to upper levels of governments to fund social services.

"Funding the police is a quick fix. Funding upfront takes longer but you get many times the return on your investment and people have a better quality of life, they don't fall into poverty and crime and drugs," Bentz said in a media scrum.

"I'm all for funding the front end but we still have to consider the crime that exists now."

Oversight board faces additional tasks

The police's oversight board went $160,000 over last year's budget largely due to an unanticipatedinquest, said chairKaren Machado.

While Bentz said a 34 per cent increase is "tough to swallow" when the city's been holding most of its departments at zero for years, Machado said the board has a lot of work to do.

The board has been given 115 recommendations to help restore the community's faith in the embattled police service. These have come from a number of reports, including the Seven Youth Inquest, Broken Trust Report, and the board's own independent expert panel.

Once the new Police Services Act comes into effect April 1, the board must revamp its policies, provide training to board members and develop a new strategic plan. It's also been tasked with writing an artificial intelligence policy, Machado said. The board is looking to hire a policy analyst and researcher to meet these demands.

Budget deliberations will continue at council chambers for the next two weeks before ratification Feb. 12.