Regional council votes down motion to ask police to cut $4M from 2025 budget

Waterloo regional councillors have voted down a motion that would have asked the Waterloo Regional Police Service to cut $4 million from its proposed 2025 budget.

The motion was brought before the administration and finance committee by Coun. Rob Deutschmann last week and was deferred to a meeting on Tuesday. The motion asked council to consider requesting the cut, reducing the net levy impact to no more than $248,468,301.

"There's one taxpayer, there's one budget and policing is part of our one budget," Deutschmann said. 

Deutschmann said the motion comes amidst a regional budget struggle as regional council has spent the past several weeks proposing cuts to services and searching for savings.

"We're asking that police, the board, do the same with respect to their budget," he said.

North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton said she originally supported the motion, but wanted to reach out to police to ask their thoughts. 

"In doing so I found out they decreased by $6.3 million," she said.

Foxton said police told her they saved the money through a number of reductions, including a full-time job position, training expenses, purchase delays for equipment and a vehicle and other non-pressing investments.

"I do not see that they need to do a further $4 million, understanding that," she said.

That sentiment was carried by Coun. Doug Craig, who also sits on the police board.

He said the police budget is sitting at an 8.4 per cent increase whereas the region's budget is sitting at a much higher 10.4 per cent.

"Really what we're doing is we're deflecting away from what the real issue is," said Craig. "And that's the regional budget."

Craig said he wouldn't support a regional budget of 10 or 11 per cent, and that to remedy the budget issues, he suggested deferring it to January.

"I think the police budget sits where it does and they've done, I think, an excellent job at reducing their budget," Craig said.