City of Winnipeg asks public for feedback on proposed police funding models, but none include budget cut
CBC
The City of Winnipeg is asking residents to weigh in on possible changes to its funding model for police — but an advocate for police defunding says the fact none of the suggestions would involve a budget cut is a problem.
"They're not really offering Winnipeggers a choice," said Louise Simbandumwe, co-chair of the Police Accountability Coalition — a group that advocates for addressing root causes of crime by reallocating money from the police budget to other community services.
"Basically, the choice is 'how much do you want the police budget to be increased by?'" Simbandumwe said.
The Winnipeg Police Service budget will rise by $7 million this year, to $320 million.
The service currently accounts for 26.8 per cent of the city's total 2022 budget, according to city documents. The vast majority of that goes toward salaries.
The Police Accountability Coalition wants the police budget to be cut by 10 per cent.
In 2020, city council asked staff to come up with new ways to fund the service to create a more sustainable model.
The city says staff looked at other formulas in Canada and launched a public engagement campaign. That includes an online survey running now and a series of events to be held this month by phone and online.
They came up with the five funding models presented in the city's online survey:
All five options would still increase the police budget, a fact that Simbandumwe says is disappointing.
She's also concerned the online survey is framed in a way that doesn't give residents the opportunity to have a differing point of view.
"The police budget keeps growing and growing and squeezing out other municipal services' funding for community agencies, and there is increasing concern about that," she said.
"We should be able to weigh in on that as citizens, and if … [the city is] authentically interested in engagement, that should be one of the options that's up for discussion. Clearly, it's not."
Winnipeg Police Board chair Markus Chambers said the service still needs enough funding to allow it to keep Winnipeggers safe and respond to emergencies — but it's a balancing act.
Saskatoon city hall says police spending is projected to be $2.6 million over budget this year. That pushes the city into a $1.2-million deficit position, according to a report that will be considered by city council next week.
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