City councillors had their first official look at the proposed budget, Wednesday morning, and the cost of keeping our city safe was front and centre.
Right now, the proposed budget comes with a 5.5 percent increase, split between city services and neighbourhood renewal. The Edmonton Police Service receives the largest distribution of local tax dollars.
For 2013, the EPS is asking for an additional $6.5 million to fund 29 new positions.
"We're not asking for 29 in hopes we get 15. We're saying 29 is really what we need to continue to deliver the service that Edmontonians have asked of us," said Police Chief Rod Knecht.
The majority of those positions would be allocated to community patrol and the homicide section.
"We continue to have homicide issues," Knecht said adding, "Domestic violence is up, it's our big issue this year and we see that into the future. 25 percent of our homicides, we know, were as a result of domestic violence, so we want to respond to the needs of the community."
The $6.5 million is on top of the $13.5 million the EPS needs to maintain current service levels. The proposed 2013 EPS budget is just over $284 million.
The city isn't responding quite as warmly as Knecht would hope, though. While the decision will ultimately be up to council, Mayor Stephen Mandel says he has concerns.
"I have problems with going beyond what the current budget is. I think we have been, for the last seven or eight years, have been incredibly generous with the police and dealing with their challenges and sometimes we have to draw a line," explained Mandel.
Knecht says the service is constantly looking for areas to find savings, however, says he is only asking for what is absolutely needed.
"We'll continue to try and find efficiencies but, this was one heck of a scrub down, I can tell you. To knock $10 million off a budget and re-appropriate it internally, we're not going to be able to do that again."
Mandel says the police have hired a high number of new officers over the past few years, including 68 last year. He says the city has been very good about giving the police what they've asked for in the past, and there's a need to find a better balance.
"I think at some point in time there's a reasonableness that we have to say to the police, 'Wait a minute, there's enough.' Now, I'm not saying that I won't support some increase."
Knecht says the service will work with what it gets but, as the city continues to grow, there is a need to increase service.
"It would be nice to get into a position where we don't have to shift bodies around all the time, every time we have an emergency or a trend in violence. We want to get to a comfortable place where we can respond as a police service to all the needs of the community, as opposed robbing Peter to pay Paul all the time."
A public hearing on the 2013 budget is scheduled for November 26th.
With files from Vinesh Pratap.
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