POLICE BLUES
Budget freeze means layoffs: Chief Blair.
Layoffs are coming, police chief Bill Blair warned Wednesday as the Toronto Police Services Board committed to a zero per cent budget increase next year.
The chief issued his stark warning shortly before the civilian oversight body voted in favour of city budget chief Mike Del Grande’s request to flatline the police budget at $933.8million.
“If you commit to those targets, you are committing to layoffs,” Chief Blair said.
Councillor Del Grande said freezing the budget at 2012 levels should be a “minimum starting point,” citing areas where police could find savings, including unused police cars that were purchased in advance when prices were low. He also urged police and the city to study the optimal number of officers required to police Toronto’s streets.
“How many police officers are on the street at any particular time? If you do your math there are a lot of police officers,” Mr. Del Grande said. “Are they on the desk because of injury, modified work? I have no idea. But no one has been able to tell us, definitively, how many police officers does it take to police the city of Toronto?”
Under the budget strategy adopted Wednesday, police would have to absorb any cost increases, including wage hikes — something Chief Blair said would pose a challenge, with 88% of the budget going toward salaries.
Police have been doing everything possible to reduce costs across the board, the chief added.
Board chair Alok Mukherjee said Mr. Del Grande’s message of fiscal restraint was “received very clearly.”
“We have to make a really serious effort to question everything and ask ourselves if there are alternative ways of providing some of these services,” he said.
Mr. Mukherjee said core police services such as patrols and investigations would not suffer as a result of the flatlining.
The call for budgetary restraint comes just a month after Mayor Rob Ford requested additional police funding from the province and extra officers to tackle gang violence in the wake of the recent Eaton Centre and Danzig Street shootings. Police stepped up their street presence in response.
“This summer, we are dealing with a significant concern that exists in the city with the respect to safety and we are putting more officers on the street,” Chief Blair said Wednesday, noting his force would continue to search for ways to deliver “efficient and economical” service.
Last year, council instructed city departments to cut 10% from their budgets. Toronto police, however, saw an increase of 0.5% — or $4.3-million — in 2012.