The Mayor is asking city police to whittle down their proposed $1-million budget increase.
Bill Mauro notes Council stands behind the police, but wants them to look for savings in this year’s proposed police budget.
Councillors were presented with the increase on Tuesday night but voted not to make a decision on it for now.
It will return to budget deliberations on January 30th.
City Police Services Board Administrator Tom Lockwood acknowledges the increase is a tough pill to swallow for Council.
He emphasizes police need the extra funding to make good on the recommendations from two scathing reports on the Board and the Police Service.
At the end of the night, city staff say the city’s proposed tax levy increase sits at 2.84%, a slight decrease from their starting figure of around 3%.
That’s due to a number of factors like the cancellation of the Staal Foundation Open, and additional provincial money for Monday’s decision to opt-in to cannabis stores.