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Ottawa Police Services Board approves budget directions

A police vehicle sits outside the Ottawa Police headquarters on Elgin St. in this undated photo. (CTV News Ottawa) A police vehicle sits outside the Ottawa Police headquarters on Elgin St. in this undated photo. (CTV News Ottawa)
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The Ottawa Police Services Board has approved directions for the 2023 budget.

The board unanimously approved a plan to direct staff to draft the next budget based on a 2.5% tax increase and an estimated 2.2% increase in taxes resulting from growth in assessment base.

The draft documents will be tabled Feb. 1, when the city’s budget process begins.

If approved, it would see the Ottawa Police Service’s budget grow to around $400 million, according to Police Chief Eric Stubbs, or approximately 8.9 per cent of the city’s overall budget in 2023. A 2.5 per cent tax increase for police would cost the average property taxpayer an additional $17 this year.

Some residents of Ottawa who presented delegations to the Ottawa Police Services Board were critical of the funding increase, renewing calls to freeze the police budget that were heard in recent years.

“It is time to continue reimagining community safety in Ottawa by freezing the OPS budget, pending the outcome of the line-by-line audit of all city services, including the OPS,” said Robin Browne of 613/819 Black Hub.

The draft budget is not guaranteed to be approved. Police had asked for a $14 million budget increase in 2022, but the board approved only $11 million.

Police Chief Eric Stubbs said that while he respected the opinions of delegations who wanted to freeze the budget, he ultimately disagrees with them.

“More than ever, the OPS needs continued investments to ensure that we can meet the demands of this great and growing community,” he said.

The board also approved budget timelines, including the tabling of the draft budget at a special board meeting Feb. 1, conducting public consultation from Feb. 1 to 20, approving the budget Feb. 27, 2023. City council will vote on the 2023 budget March 1.

The board also approved $1.4 million for new conducted energy weapons, or Tasers, and 8,000 cartridges. A facilities strategic plan “refresh” was also approved, which includes a proposed south-end facility in Barrhaven that would cost $178 million, up from the $118.2 million approved by the Ottawa Police Services Board in 2021.

Deputy police chief Steve Bell said the report does not approve new spending.

“In the original plan, there was a separate IT building that was to be developed. We’ve taken the money that was to be invested in that and put it into our south project,” he said. “The original funding envelope that we had was $219 million, and that continues through this facilities strategic plan refresh, so there’s no new money, no new allocation of funds.”

The Ottawa Police Services Board additionally approved spending approximately $71,750 on hiring the firm Odgers Berndtson to support the Board in its search for two new deputy chiefs.

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