WINNIPEG -- A city councillor will introduce a motion at Thursday’s council meeting it says will prevent the Winnipeg Police Service from making cuts.
The motion from Coun. Markus Chambers says police and public safety are top priorities.
It says proposed changes to the police pension plan will lead to enough money being saved to prevent layoffs that were proposed earlier this month during a police board meeting as part of the a city hall budget process.
Danny Smyth, chief of the Winnipeg Police Service, said at the time in order to keep growth of the police budget at two per cent, nearly three dozen officers and 25 cadets would have to be cut by 2022. Smyth said the budget target was given to him by city administrators.
According to the motion that will go before council Thursday, the mayor’s executive police committee recommended the two per cent growth target. The motion said no city department has been given a greater growth target.
It also said laying off the police officers and cadets would save an estimated $14.74 million between 2020 and 2023, while the proposed changes to the police pension place would save more than $30 million over the same time period.
