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Edmonton mayor pitches new funding formula for police budget

Edmonton mayor pitches new funding formula for police budget

The budget restraint clock started ticking at city hall Friday, kicking off with a proposal to try and rein in the police budget while making the service's annual increases more predictable.

City councillors have proclaimed restraint as the theme of the new city budget. Now they have three weeks to find ways to reduce the proposed 4.9 per cent tax increase.

Mayor Don Iveson said a 3.5 per cent increase is a realistic goal. But it will mean council must find more than $19 million in savings in 2016, and even more in 2017 and 2018.

Keeping police costs down

The ballooning police budget is a contentious issue for councillors, who say they can't afford the requested increase. The police commission has asked for an extra $48.6 million over the next three years, much of it to cover the cost of hiring new staff.

That prompted Iveson to put forward a new way to fund police in the future, in hopes of improving relations between the police service and council.

Iveson said the police budget has gone up by 112 per cent in the last 12 years.

"Every year that I've been here we've given you what you need," Iveson told police commission representatives.

He said that's made it difficult for the city to make the case to the province for funding increases.

Iveson proposed a new formula for the police budget, based on factors like inflation and population growth. He said the police service and the city can then go to the province to ask for funds to "top up" the service's budget.

"I'm actually hoping to repair the somewhat rocky relationship that we've had with the service," Iveson said.

Police Chief Rod Knecht voiced support for the idea, saying formula-based funding will allow the service to plan ahead. He lamented the yearly "crapshoot" of having to come to council for funding increases and never knowing what councillors will decide.

"I think it's a good idea, it's proactive," Knecht said about Iveson's proposal.

Knecht said the police service has become like a social agency of "first and last resort." Police commission chair Shami Sandhu said a third of the police budget funds services that have been downloaded onto the service by other levels of government.

Those extra responsibilities cost roughly $130 million in the police budget.

Knecht, who admitted he doesn't expect council to fund the full increase requested this year for the police budget, said the service needs to say "no" to taking on more responsibilities that are outside normal police jurisdiction.

This year's request for new positions includes front-line officers, investigators and support staff.

Knecht told council the positions are needed because crime has increased significantly. Calls for service have risen 8.6 per cent over the last year, he said.

Coun. Michael Oshry began budget deliberations Friday with a motion to cap the tax increase at 3.5 per cent for the next three years. But the motion was quickly withdrawn because it ran contrary to city council rules.

"I think it's time that the city keeps the tax increase as low as possible," Oshry said.