Not one Saskatoon city councillor approved the police budget Tuesday.
Police chief Clive Weighill presented his department’s 2015 budget midway through day one of city council’s budget deliberations. His department wanted a $4.5-million — or six per cent — increase over 2014’s budget.
Crime in Saskatoon is increasing as the city grows, said Weighill. The police service has 148 officers for every 100,000 people in the city, and more officers need to be hired as more people move to Saskatoon in order to maintain that ratio.
The service was hoping to hire eight new officers next year, he said, and combined with the increasing operating costs of the new station and a plan to replace outdated communications systems, the service needs an increased budget.
The proposal was instantly met with questions from councillors.
Ward 2 councillor Pat Lorje asked if the police could make due with just four new officers while Ward 4 councillor Troy Davies wondered if the police service could reduce their budget by $875,000 in order to decrease a proposed property tax hike.
Weighill said, while hiring less than eight new officers would not spark a crisis within the department, the cut could lead to problems down the road.
Councillors eventually voted unanimously against the budget, sending the proposal back to Saskatoon’s Board of Police Commissioners. The board will rework the budget before Weighill retables it Dec. 15 at city council.
Councillors also spent a large amount of time debating a city administration proposal to reduce garbage pickup. Several councillors argued the city should move to year-round bi-weekly pickup — as opposed to the weekly waste collection that currently occurs between April and October. Others said they wanted the pickup schedule to remain as is.
Council compromised on the motion, voting that the city only collect weekly from May to September, with all other months being bi-weekly. The holiday trash collection schedule went unchanged.
Heading into day one of the budget, the city was proposing a 7.32 per cent property tax hike. The number moved down to 7.2 per cent even before deliberations kicked off after administration announced it found $200,000 in savings from increased assessment growth.
The proposed increase had not yet dropped below 7.2 per cent following Tuesday’s deliberations, but more items are slated to be discussed Wednesday.
Administration stated earlier this week the expected mill rate increase could potentially fall to 5.49 per cent if certain recommendations — including a plan to spread out money for roadway improvements over additional years — are passed.
