Police expected to end year $10M over budget

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This article was published 04/09/2021 (1519 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Police Service expects to end the year almost $10 million over budget, which is being blamed on pension costs.

A new report notes WPS expects its tax-supported budget to fall about $9.6 million short by the end of 2021. That’s partially due to an actuary’s assessment that found the police pension fund requires a $5.7-million increase in employer contributions.

In addition, police say the service has so far been unable to find the full $6.1 million of savings council directed it to achieve in the 2021 budget, most of which is linked to a cancelled pension overhaul.

“The expenditure management budget… is met only in part from savings attributed to overtime and higher rates of attrition,” a WPS second-quarter budget update states.

That savings target includes $5.1 million that was earmarked to make up for cancelled police pension plan changes.

Council had unilaterally decided to overhaul the pension plan, with the goal to save millions of dollars per year. Instead, the changes were cancelled after an arbitrator ruled they would breach collective agreements, creating a shortfall.

Coun. Markus Chambers, chairperson of the Winnipeg Police Board, said pandemic shutdowns, and warnings to stay home as much as possible, have reduced WPS traffic enforcement revenues just as the pension pressures pile up.

“With the impact of COVID, the reduction in revenues throughout the year from traffic enforcement, all of those things have had an impact on the budget. This last 18 months have been so starkly different than what we’ve experienced in previous years. And then, this re-evaluation of the police pension payment, it couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said Chambers.

With so many financial challenges at play, he said it’s understandable that the police budget has taken a hit.

Chambers noted both photo radar and traditional traffic enforcement revenues could still increase by the end of the year, since traffic has largely returned to normal levels since pandemic restrictions eased.

“(There’s) more cars back on the streets, people returning to work, students returning to school, so those photo and traditional enforcements will likely see more activity as well,” he said.

At this point, however, the fiscal update predicts photo enforcement revenue will still reach just $11.34 million by the end of 2021, falling about $4 million short of the $15.4 million projected in the 2021 budget.

Meanwhile, since the city once opted to “take a holiday” from making police pension payments when the fund enjoyed a strong performance about a decade ago, Chambers said he believes the $5.7-million pension fund hit should be covered within the city’s broader budget, instead of being deemed a WPS cost.

However, Coun. Scott Gillingham said the WPS budget should reflect the service’s entire salary costs.

Gillingham, council’s finance chairperson, agreed some of the police pension pressures were difficult to predict.

“This is unavoidable in the sense that this (assessment) is the work of the actuaries. They have to make sure that the proper (work) is done (to determine the value of the pension fund),” he said.

The Winnipeg Police Board is set to discuss the budget update on Sept. 10. Winnipeg police were not available to comment Friday.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga