THUNDER BAY -- Through the first half of 2015 labour costs have pushed the Thunder Bay's Police Service over budget by $195,000, or about 0.5 per cent.
If the current trend continues until the year's end, compensation costs will overrun $237,940, the service will pay out $165,100 more than budgeted in overtime pay, court time will exceed expectations by $186,950 and and fringe benefits will run $556,976 in the red.
Balanced against anticipated revenues, the service projects labour costs will run a deficit of $306,888 in 2015.
Last year, for the same perior, the police service announced an unfavourable varriance of $240,000, or 1.6 per cent of that budget.
Police Chief J.P. Levesque said new communications technology is rolling out to decrease officer time spent in court. Restrictions have also been placed on officer overtime and efforts are underway to minimize discretionary purchases.
"We had a horrendous year last year in terms of violent crime. We had 11 homicides in one year," he said.
"The year that comes next, we have our court appearances and (preliminary) appearances and things like that. Our court costs keep going up so we can't predict stuff like that."
Last year at this time, the budget variance showed a $240,000 deficit, a variance of 1.6 per cent.
Levesque added the Office of the Independent Police Review Director has ordered two local officers face undisclosed charges in October and that defending them will have an unexpected impact on his department's budget.
Police intend to release Thunder Bay's final 2014 crime statistics next week.
Note to reader: This version of the story corrects an earlier version that featured a headline with an inaccurate variance.
