Hamilton police want $12M more than last year's $183M budget

Hamilton's Police Services Board is asking the city for a $12-million increase to the police budget for the new year — a 6.71 per cent rise from what the city paid for policing in 2022.

The 2023 budget, presented by Hamilton Police Service (HPS) Chief Frank Bergen, was approved at Thursday's police board meeting and will deliberated by council in January. Its lone critic on the board, Ward 2 Coun. Cameron Kroetsch, says it comes in at more than three times what was projected in last year's Hamilton operating budget.

"It's been said to me, many times, that the city and the Hamilton Police Service work closely with one another to develop and forecast these multi-year outlooks," said Kroetsch, the board's lone vote against approving the budget. "If that's the case, I don't understand how the proposed budget increase can be this much higher than projected less than a year ago. 

Every other budget that comes to the city is held to a great deal of scrutiny. I think it's important for the Hamilton Police Service to have to demonstrate why their budget ask is coming in much higher than what was forecasted.- Cameron Kroetsch, Ward 2 councillor

"Every other budget that comes to the city is held to a great deal of scrutiny. I think it's important for the Hamilton Police Service to have to demonstrate why their budget ask is coming in much higher than what was forecasted," Kroetsch wrote to CBC Hamilton in an email following the meeting. "If the police budget makes up almost 20 per cent of the overall city budget, it's important to know how it alone will cause an overall tax increase in a time of unprecedented social and financial insecurity."

The police are asking for a combined operating and capital budget of $195,851,008. That is $12,308,469 more than the budget approved in 2022. However, policing costs are projected to take up about the same proportion of overall city budget — about 18.5 per cent — as last year, according to a presentation Bergen gave Thursday. That total could change depending on the results of bargaining for a new collective agreement for senior officers, whose current contract expires at the end of the month.

"There continues to be a false narrative that the cost of policing is increasing," Bergen said. "Our workload is increasing, but our cost of delivering community safety remains consistent."

Police service plans to hire 13 new officers yearly until 2030

In a report submitted to the board, Bergen said the additional money is needed "in order to maintain adequate service delivery, meet increasing workload demands, address the growing complexity of policing, an increasing crime severity index and ensure front-line policing is supported." The money will also cover 18 new civilian positions on the force, as well as 13 new officer positions that have already been approved.

"The HPS embarked on a 10-year human capital plan to ensure the number of police officers is commensurate to the city's expected population growth," the report says. "Each year until 2030, an additional 13 police officers will be added in order to maintain the current cop-to-pop (population) ratio of 146 officers per 100,000 population. Despite the implementation of the ... plan, the HPS cop-to-pop ratio will remain below the national and provincial rates of 183 and 176, respectively."

Bergen presented a graph that appeared to show that Hamilton ranks fifth in Ontario on the violent crime severity index, a ranking that takes into account both volume and severity of police-reported crime. He said Hamilton's "cop-to-pop" is well below fifth place in Ontario, noting the city would have to add 84 more officers to be in fifth place.

However, in 2022, homicides in Hamilton have dropped to their lowest level in several years. In 2020, there were 18 homicides. In 2021, there were 20 homicides and in 2022 there have been just five so far.

"This budget is about maintaining adequate service delivery," Bergen said, noting "the majority of pressures stem from employee-related costs." 

This committee is the only opportunity, outside of the single board meeting scheduled to discuss the budget, where members of the board can ask questions about the budget process.- Ward 2 councillor Cameron Kroetsch

To give examples of how policing costs add up, Bergen cited two events in recent Hamilton history: when a driver left the road and killed a DARTS driver in May, and when police attended an unsanctioned homecoming event held by McMaster University students in early October. He said the collision took 639 hours to investigate, split among 39 officers, and ended up costing $31,208. The homecoming event, which saw 207 officers participate, cost $134,904.

'A strong city needs a strong police force'

Other board members congratulated the chief on the budget.

"I think the budget is in the best interest of our community," said vice-chair Fred Bennink, a member of the board's three-person budget committee. "I believe the budget provides for adequate policing."

Coun. Esther Pauls, whose son is a Hamilton police officer, said she supports hiring more police.

"I will be supporting this," said Pauls, who has recused herself from police discussions in the past. The Hamilton Spectator recently reported that she cleared the idea of joining the police board with the city's integrity commissioner in advance. 

Kroetsch raised several concerns related to both the budget and the process through which is approved by the police board.

"The board's priorities, which were articulated to us at yesterday's meeting, are to balance community concerns, policing, and the responsibilities of the board itself," he wrote in an email sent Friday. "I did not see a sufficient priority attached to the community's concerns, of which there have been many expressed over the last few years."

Subcommittee met for just four hours before recommending $195 million budget

Speaking of the process itself, Kroetsch pointed out that the police board's budget subcommittee, of which he is one of the three members, met only twice for about two hours each before the budget drafted by senior police staff was approved. He believes that's not enough time to adequately scrutinize police expenditures.

"This committee is the only opportunity, outside of the single board meeting scheduled to discuss the budget, where members of the board can ask questions about the budget process," he said. "I am also concerned… about the format of the police budget documents. They do not conform to the same style and format as the city's budget documents, which makes it very difficult to compare this budget ask with those being put forward by other city departments."

While showing support for the budget itself, fellow budget committee member Geordie Elms said he agrees with a number of Kroetsch's concerns about the process. He later told CBC Hamilton that there was less than a month between the city council election, which leads to new police board members, and the committee's budget meetings, making it hard for new members to catch up.

"A new council came into being on 19 November and its members are joining a process that was well underway in every department and agency, including the Hamilton Police Service Board before they were elected," he wrote in an email. "My comments relate to understanding why member Kroetsch was frustrated with the process and deadlines, which he clearly communicated during his own remarks throughout the meeting."