The Victoria Esquimalt Police Board has made a change to its provisional budget, but it’s not the one Victoria city council had been hoping for.
At its Tuesday meeting, the board increased its provisional budget by $230,000 to cover the cost of the city’s late-night task force, bringing its request for new funding in 2025 to more than $1.155 million.
In previous years, Victoria has included the task-force budget in its own operations budget.
But council is facing tough budget decisions this year, and might have had to cut the task force in its efforts to reduce a draft budget that would see a 12.17 per cent tax hike in 2025.
Shifting the task force’s funding to the police budget would mean that Esquimalt, which funds about 14 per cent of the entire police budget, would have to help pay for it.
The township has argued it shouldn’t have to pay for a portion of the task force, as it gets no benefit from it.
In the past, the late-night program has funded four police officers every Friday and Saturday night to patrol the streets and go between bars, nightclubs and other late-night spots.
Victoria Police Chief Del Manak has said the task force represents a big return on investment, as the officers’ presence deters bad behaviour and prevents assaults. They also stop potential drunk drivers before they start their cars, intervene in cases of intoxication, disturbances and rival groups starting confrontations, and look out for vulnerable people.
Victoria council has already asked the police board to find more than $2 million in savings in its budget.
But Manak says a cut that big would mean a reduction in service and visibility — the exact opposite of what the community has been asking for.
Elizabeth Cull, the police board’s vice-chair and chair of the finance committee, said when she presented the provisional budget to the city in the fall, she warned a cut that deep would require layoffs and the loss of all new positions the police force had requested.
“It’s an unreasonable request and we had the opportunity to make very clear how unreasonable it was,” she said.
The police are seeking a budget of $79.14 million this year, up $7 million from last year. Victoria’s share of that budget would be $68.3 million, with Esquimalt paying the balance.
The police board is requesting about $925,000 in new funding to cover the cost of four new police officers and three new civilian staff. It has said that 97 per cent of the budget is committed to maintaining current service levels, about 1.5 per cent for capital expenditures and the balance for new resources.
The City of Victoria’s current draft budget includes a $365.6-million operating budget and a $94.6-million capital budget. If it is adopted next spring with the 12.17 per cent tax hike, the typical residential property could face a $376-property tax increase and a typical business could see a $1,000 increase.
City staff have provided council with options that would allow it to cap next year’s tax hike at between four and seven per cent. That report will be considered Thursday at council.
The options did not take into account any changes to the provisional police budget.
