Members of the Kingston Police Services Board got a high-level briefing Thursday on some of the challenges and opportunities facing the police department as it prepares a budget for the upcoming year.
More than 80 per cent of the police budget came down to wages and benefits for sworn officers and civilians in the Kingston police budget last year.
Chief Antje McNeely told the police services board one of the ways they are managing those costs is through retirements and new hires.
Some of the new hires are fourth-class constables replacing retiring senior officers.
“We mix a blend of fourth-class and experienced officers, but by hiring fourth it does assist in some cost savings there when you have a senior officer that’s retiring at the highest pay level,” McNeely told the board during the noon hour meeting.
McNeely says the police force has reduced fuel and electrical consumption but McNeely says they are anticipating increased fuel costs for the upcoming year.
McNeely also told the board they are working on a number of strategies with partner agencies like mental health services and municipal bylaw to reduce the number of calls for service police have to respond to where safety isn’t an issue.
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“Bylaw are responding to a lot of the calls for service in terms of noise complaints, in terms of noisy parties, the encampments, homeless, poverty issues,” said McNeely
Kingston police had forecasted a budget increase of 2.6 per cent for 2022 but the chief says that may be impacted by some costs beyond the force’s control.
McNeely highlighted some of those issues, like a change in the contractual agreement with the province’s Special Investigations Unit adding $50,000 in expenses, along with increasing city insurance rates and Kingston police building fees adding another $75,000 to the bottom line.
“We assumed status quo in 2021 for the court security prisoner transportation grant when in fact our grant was actually decreased by $74,000,” said McNeely.
The Kingston Police Services Board will get a more detailed look at some of the hard numbers in the draft budget when the board meets again in October.
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