The Thunder Bay Police Services Board has passed the 2013 operating and capital budget, which comes with a 3.8 per cent increase from last year.
Thunder Bay Police Chief J.P. Levesque presented the 2013 budget estimates to the board Tuesday morning. The board unanimously passed the $35 million budget.
Levesque said the increase is mostly due to negotiated wage and benefits raises this year and otherwise, the budget would have come in at an almost zero per cent increase.
“It is very tight. It’s going to be a very lean year,” said Levesque, adding they did cut some items from the budget, including allocations for legal counsel.
“We don’t know what we’re going to see down the road whether it’s discipline issues or human rights issues where we’re going to require legal counsel,” Levesque said. “We’re hoping we’re not going to see any big spending from the legal departments.”
The chief said he believes the budget is as tight as it can be and while he’s comfortable with it, it’s as close as he’d like to get.
Although the budget will see a four per cent increase in personnel services and a three per cent jump in purchased services, there is an 8.1 per cent reduction in materials and supplies.
The capital budget estimates include $100,000 for an in-car camera program for police cruisers and a $140,000 investment in the consolidated courthouse, which includes desks and other supplies officer will need to work out of the new facility when it opens.
Police services board chairman Joe Virdiramo said he thinks the budget is reasonable and falls in line with the budget direction given to them by the city.
“I think it’s a good budget,” he said. “The administration of the police service has worked, through the chief and admin, diligently in preparing this budget and hopefully we can keep to the budget in 2013.”
“You can’t prepare for what might happen in the future, but I know we’re doing everything we can to minimize and to operate the service as fiscally responsible as we can,” he added.
The budget goes to city council for approval in the New Year.
