The city's police chief and his staff will spend the next month looking for further savings after presenting the Sarnia Police Services Board with a draft 2024 budget of just over $34 million Thursday.
When the budget process started in May, a review of all expenditures, staffing allocations, external factors like service calls and legislative requirements amounted to a 17.2 per cent increase.
Derek Davis said reductions made since have brought the increase down to 12.1 per cent.
"What you saw today was the first round of those prioritizations," said chief Davis. "The board has given clear direction that we're to go back and further refine that to bring forward to the October meeting and that's what we'll do. We're also going to add some additional articulation of the items that do remain as a priority for us in our submission to the board. Ultimately, this is the board's budget, the board decides and the board gives us direction and we abide by that direction."
Davis said they'll be focusing on getting the increase percentage below 10 per cent.
"We'll sit down with the team and take the ideas and feedback from across the organization," he said. "Policing is complex. It's not a simple undertaking. [There are] many competing demands. We have a lot of needs, we can't do them all, but we need to identify the ones that strategically, will bring the most return on investment for next year."
New positions, to enhance front line operations, amount to a $1.36 million dollar increase in the draft.
"What we're actually trying to fix is a historic deficiency in a few areas," Davis said. "So, although last year's budget was historic, we're also trying to address historical issues that have built over time."
Sarnia businessman and former city councillor Nathan Colquhoun addressed the board and expressed concern about what he called a "lack of consistent, timely and detailed communication from the Sarnia Police Service to the media."
Chief Davis admitted that there have been communication issues.
"In any organization, in any human endeavor, we can always communicate better and we recognize that too," he said. "The challenge we have is, we do not have a dedicated communications person. Many organizations, the same or smaller than us, do have a dedicated resource to that. We recognize that communication needs to improve. We've said that all along, there's no secret. Even before today's delegation we've taken steps to mitigate that. We've got an ask in the budget for a corporate communications person."
In addition to hiring a civilian communications person, the service wants to add three other civilians to its complement; two 9-1-1 operators, and a crime analyst to support criminal investigations. Adding a second sergeant to each of its four platoons and a canine officer is also proposed.
An $800,000 increase in reserves funding was also recommended to help cover things like unexpected events, 9-1-1 equipment, and building a new headquarters eventually.
"We're not looking at reserves as a budget mitigator, to be drawn from per say, we're looking at them to mitigate large costs down the road," Davis said. "We're not saying [reserve funding increases] continue on forever, but if there's a large investigation; missing person or homicides, those tend to be operationally expensive by necessity. We need to have money available to be able to fund those activities, or a reserve fund that will enable those if and when they occur to be able to manage it within the budget."
Board Chair Paul Wiersma hopes to see a tighter budget when the final draft is presented to them October 12.
"We'd like to see the pencil sharpened a little bit more, where we walk that fine line between providing adequate and effective policing and also being fiscally responsible," said Wiersma.
He told the service it was "not sustainable to have a double digit increase" and he wants to see the draft come back below 10 per cent.
"That would be my hope," Wiersma told Sarnia News Today. "I have indicated that in previous occasions as well."
Once approved by the board, Sarnia council will consider any increase for final approval during 2024 budget deliberations December 5.