On Wednesday, Vancouver’s City Council approved $20 million in additional funds for this year’s budget for the city’s police and fire departments.
A staff report says the Vancouver Police Department went $17 million over budget for the year, citing cost pressures such as overtime, a higher number of protests and the Task Force Barrage initiative.
Meanwhile, Vancouver’s Fire Rescue Services spent $4.6 million over its budget, mainly due to fleet maintenance costs, according to the report.
Most of these cost overages would be paid for by a city reserve fund.
“When you look at the cost of leasing as a percentage of the budget, it has remained relatively constant over the last decade plus,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said.
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“And so what we, as mayor and council, our primary responsibility is to make sure that we have a safe city, and that’s the guidance that we’ve given in the police service. That’s the guidance that we were given by residents and business owners across the city.”
The Vancouver Police Board is also proposing a $497 million operating budget for the Vancouver Police Department next year, which would be $50 million higher than their current budget for this year.
Of that $50 million, $28 million is related to collective agreements, including the new agreement struck with the police union.
Nearly $13 million would go towards maintaining existing service levels, including E-Comm services and the body-worn camera program.
About $9 million would go to support budget priorities they say are being underfunded, such as policing for protests and cost increases for ammunition.
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