Chief Glenn De Caire calls it the lowest budget increase in 16 years, but members of the Hamilton Police Services board are still taking a month to mull over whether the 2015 budget can be trimmed more.
After more than an hour of deliberating, board members voted 5-1 on Monday to put off approving the $158.5-million budget. Most only got it on Friday, and member Walt Juchniewicz said they owe it to taxpayers to think about it more.
"I can't forget the accountability I have to the citizens and taxpayers and stakeholders in this great city of ours," he said. "I think it needs time."
The budget is a 2.95-per cent increase over 2014. That's a difference of $4.3 million over last year's $148.9-million budget.
Members will comb over the budget over the next month and return with suggestions. Coun. Terry Whitehead of Ward 8 says he can already think of some.
Whitehead called it an "innovative, creative, dedicated and committed" budget. He praised the focus on mental health. The budget includes adding five constables to the Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team, which specializes in mental health calls.
The team expected to see 250 calls this year. It ended up taking 624 calls in 11 months.
But Whitehead cited the board's conference dollars as an area the budget could be trimmed. He also wants the police to work with the city to see if there are administrative areas where they could join forces.
"I'm just trying to do the best I can on behalf of taxpayers, and if there are elements or components where I can find in savings, then dammit, I'm going to do that."
New board member Stanley Tick, a provincial appointee, was the only board member who voted to approve it on Friday.
"If there's any tweaking, it would be so minor in my view that we're not going to get much lower than 2.95 per cent," he said.
De Caire said the service worked hard to bring forward as lean a budget as possible. It was boosted, he said, by a recent decision by Hamilton's Local Health Integrated Network (LHIN) to spend nearly $500,000 supporting the Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team.
The budget also asks for two trainers for Conductive Energy Weapons (CEWs), better known by the brand name Taser.
The biggest increase remains salaries and benefits. Employee-related costs account for $4.85 million, a 3.35-per cent increase over last year.
The board meets next on Jan. 22, 2015.
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