Waterloo Regional Police Service Board proposes $24M budget increase
The Waterloo Regional Police Services Board is looking for a 10.5 per cent budget increase.
The 2025 police budget, for $252.5 million, was approved by the police board on Wednesday afternoon. The proposal is $24 million more than last year’s budget, meaning the average taxpayer could pay an additional $67 on their regional taxes if approved by Waterloo Regional Council.
What’s driving the increase?
Some of the major factors cited for the increase include contractual salary obligations and benefits agreements. Staff changes also account for some of the bump, including 18 new officers hired this year and another 18 officers scheduled to be brought on next year.
“We have overtime costs and demands that are much higher than we would like,” said Chief Mark Crowell of the Waterloo Regional Police Service. “The onboarding of each new officer is a 12-month undertaking.”
Police said nearly 24,000 overtime hours were logged this year, up 19 per cent from 2023. The bulk of the overtime was attributed to the neighbourhood policing and investigations division.
In a document included in the meeting notes, police reported they were over their budget by $4,468,000 for overtime expenditures. The document also stated the extra costs were due primarily to being under-staffed.
Plans to build a new three-storey communications centre at the Maple Grove headquarters also factored into the increase. Approximately $610,000 was earmarked for the building in the 2025 budget.
The WRPS budget also included $9 million for regional services and programs, such as upgrading 911 phone lines and streamlined dispatch services.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Donald Trump picks former U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has nominated former diplomat and U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra to be the American ambassador to Canada.
Genetic evidence backs up COVID-19 origin theory that pandemic started in seafood market
A group of researchers say they have more evidence to suggest the COVID-19 pandemic started in a Chinese seafood market where it spread from infected animals to humans. The evidence is laid out in a recent study published in Cell, a scientific journal, nearly five years after the first known COVID-19 outbreak.
This is how much money you need to make to buy a house in Canada's largest cities
The average salary needed to buy a home keeps inching down in cities across Canada, according to the latest data.
'My two daughters were sleeping': London Ont. family in shock after their home riddled with gunfire
A London father and son they’re shocked and confused after their home was riddled with bullets while young children were sleeping inside.
Smuggler arrested with 300 tarantulas strapped to his body
Police in Peru have arrested a man caught trying to leave the country with 320 tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants strapped to his body.
Boissonnault out of cabinet to 'focus on clearing the allegations,' Trudeau announces
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced embattled minister Randy Boissonnault is out of cabinet.
Baby dies after being reported missing in midtown Toronto: police
A four-month-old baby is dead after what Toronto police are calling a “suspicious incident” at a Toronto Community Housing building in the city’s midtown area on Wednesday afternoon.
Sask. woman who refused to provide breath sample did not break the law, court finds
A Saskatchewan woman who refused to provide a breath sample after being stopped by police in Regina did not break the law – as the officer's request was deemed not lawful given the circumstances.
Parole board reverses decision and will allow families of Paul Bernardo's victims to attend upcoming parole hearing in person
The families of the victims of Paul Bernardo will be allowed to attend the serial killer’s upcoming parole hearing in person, the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) says.