Watch above: Edmonton police are getting some, but not all, of the money they asked the city for. Vinesh Pratap has more on the tough budget decision.
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Police Service will be getting some, but not all off the money it asked for from the city when it comes to next year’s budget.
City council voted 7-6 in favour of funding 35 new positions for the EPS.
“We have to respect the process,” said Deputy Chief Brian Simpson with the EPS. “The city is dealing with a lot of challenges.”
Fifty-two police positions were already part of a funded service package, but the EPS was hoping for an additional 84 new positions – 40 for the arena district, nine for LRT and 35 front-line positions.
READ MORE: Edmonton police seek funding for 84 new positions
While it’s not what they asked for, Simpson says police will make it work “off the backs of constables on the front line.”
“They are the ones that bear the brunt of whatever happens street-level and those calls for service dictate our response,” said Simpson. “They’re our core business, we have to address those first and foremost and that’s where we prioritize, and then we look at everything else we do and see what we need to deliver on.”
While six councillors voted against funding the 35 new positions, it’s not because they don’t support the police. After much debate, several councillors voted against the ask to send a message to the province that it needs to step up when it comes to funding police resources in the region.
“We are policing for the region, we are policing for northern Alberta and I am loath to put all that, the cost of that, on the Edmonton taxpayer,” Ward 6 councillor Scott McKeen said during budget deliberations Wednesday.
“The line has to be drawn because we cannot continue at the rate we are going,” added Ward 11 councillor Mike Nickel. “The province must step up. It doesn’t have a choice to step up.”
Iveson says he will take that message to the province.
“I know some councillors are disappointed, but I think a number of us felt the need to draw the line in the sand on how much policing costs the taxpayers of Edmonton can afford,” he said. “I feel a really strong mandate, stronger than ever, from my colleagues to go to the legislature to articulate this need.”
Budget deliberations continue Thursday.
With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News.
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