Edmonton police to receive $7M increase in 2023, council wants funding formula refined

Police budget receives $7M boost City council voted in favour of increasing the police budget by $7 million next year. David Ewasuk reports.

City council voted to effectively increase the Edmonton Police Service budget by another $7 million next year and shelve discussions for a multi-year police funding formula to 2023.

On Friday, councillors debated implementing a formula drafted by city administration and the Edmonton Police Commission — which oversees the EPS — for a four-year budget cycle.

By having a multi-year formula, the city aimed to provide EPS with "predictability" and "clarity of accountability." The calculation would consider factors like inflation, operating impacts of capital projects, and population growth to ensure police continued to receive funding as the city expands.

It would have been split into two personnel and non-personnel expenditures, with 82 per cent of EPS' budget to be for staffing costs and the remaining 18 per cent to be used on things like materials or fuel.

Friday morning, Coun. Anne Stevenson introduced a motion to explore modifications to the formula, citing concerns that it left the door open for police to continue making special funding requests and that there were not enough efficiency factors considered.

"What's come forward to us is an extremely solid foundation," she said. "For me, this work really highlights the challenges of moving our principles and our visions into a practical tool."

That motion was ultimately withdrawn, with Stevenson proposing council move ahead with the formula with refinements to be made next year after administration returns with better information.

In the meantime, the figure proposed by the original formula, $414 million, would be given to EPS — a $7 million increase from what councillors approved this summer.

That part passed 9-4, with Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and councillors Michael Janz, Ashley Salvador and Jo-Anne Wright in opposition.

'DE-POLITICIZE THESE CONVERSATIONS'

Salvador asked city staff if the proposed formula considered recommendations made by the Community Safety and Well-Being Strategy and Safer for All report.

Janz also probed administration to see if the formula would account for police de-tasking, to encourage finding efficiencies to preserve frontline officer capacity.

Staff said those factors were not included, since they were "difficult to embed."

Coun. Tim Cartmell voted in favour but expressed frustration that council had circumvented the original intent of creating a formula by now approving a one-year police budget.

"The whole idea of the funding formula was to de-politicize these conversations," Cartmell said.

Dale McFee, EPS chief, said in an interview that he's now spending more time in front of the mayor and city councillors than ever before.

"We can't continue to go back and forth," he added. "It's our citizens that are demanding more services and more visibility, but it's also an investment at some point."

'TOUGH CHOICES'

Coun. Aaron Paquette saw the decision as the city testing the ideas behind the formula like a pilot project for a new initiative.

"(We) might as well just move forward, get that extra information," Paquette said ahead of the vote, adding that councillors still had many questions about it.

"If we are locking into a long-term formula, we should be able to answer those questions," he added. "We have to do our due diligence."

Mayor Sohi recognized that EPS plays an "integral role" in community safety, but voted against the funding increase.

"I deeply appreciate the work that EPS does," he said. "We do not have, and we do not live in a world with unlimited resources."

"We must balance the needs of the entire city," he added. "I have seen the police budget increase by 60 per cent from 2010 to 2020. I have not seen that kind of increase for any department in the city."

In the mayor's view, Edmonton has other "pressing needs" that have been underfunded, like snow and ice control, transit, addressing its "ambitious" goals on anti-racism and reconciliation, and dealing with climate change.

"Edmontonians are struggling with inflation," Sohi said. "They are making tough choices. And we need to make tough choices too."

With a file from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk