Greater Sudbury police outline need for 10 per cent budget increase
CBC
As cities and towns across northeastern Ontario draw up their spending plans for 2026, Sudbury city council hears why a big chunk of the proposed 5.7 per cent tax hike is going to police.
Greater Sudbury police board chair Gerry Lougheed told councillors Wednesday night that more than 90 per cent of police spending is allocated to payroll and this budget allows for officers and other workers to be properly compensated.
He said outlined several current reasons why the police budget is stretched.
“You just passed a homeless strategy which requires more policing,” Lougheed said.
“I think we’re all very much aware with regard to drug issues in our community are growing, and that’s kind of scary.”
Sudbury police began a 30-day crackdown on Nov. 1 that includes more officers patrolling the downtown area and also allows officers to arrest those who repeatedly engage in open drug use.
Lougheed said pressures are also coming from the provincial government, citing the new law banning automatic speed cameras, like the ones Greater Sudbury has been using for the past two years.
“So you’re going to want to make sure there’s traffic people standing in your wards now with radar guns rather than with cameras,” he said.
Sudbury City councillor Mike Parent said constituents are asking him about the proposed increase to the police budget.
“They’re sharing their perception that they’re seeing less police, they believe, and their perception that there are less services available to them,” he said.
“What do we tell them that they’re getting? Help me understand, what do I share with them that they’re going to be receiving a service with these increases?”
Sudbury police chief Sara Cunningham said what citizens get is when they call police, officers will respond.
“I’ll use recently in the Valley, lots of online social media that there were police everywhere on a quiet Sunday afternoon,” he said.
“We got called to the Valley. We’re out there in minutes. Guns were seized.”
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