Sustainable police funding won't be part of Winnipeg’s upcoming budget

CTV News file image of Winnipeg City Hall. (Zachary Kitchen/CTV News)

WINNIPEG -

The preliminary 2022 City of Winnipeg budget will be tabled on Nov. 26; however, a sustainable funding model for the Winnipeg Police Service likely won’t be part of it.

On Wednesday, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman spoke about the request put forth by council several months ago for options for a sustainable funding model. He said the public service is requesting an extension to continue its dialogue with stakeholders on the matter.

“I know there is additional public engagement that is part of that process that still is yet to be done,” the mayor said.

Bowman added that the sustainability of the police budget is not a new issue and it is one that has been on his radar for some time now.

“We have bent the cost curve through a number of efforts,” he said. “I think there’s a lot more work to do.”

Considering the budget will be tabled in just over a week, Bowman noted it is a fair assumption to say it won’t be part of the upcoming budget.

POLICE PENSION

Bowman’s comments come just under a week after the city’s finance committee approved an over-expenditure for the Winnipeg Police Service for 2021.

The city voted three to one in favour of its general revenues covering off a shortfall of up to $7.3 million, mainly due to increased pension costs.

CTV News Winnipeg previously reported that in 2019 council voted to make changes to the police pension plan, which included the removal of overtime as a pensionable earning, an increase in officer contributions, and alterations to early retirement provisions.

The Winnipeg Police Association then filed a grievance against the city, arguing it doesn’t have the authority to make those changes outside the collective bargaining process. The arbitrator ruled the city couldn’t make the changes and the city did not appeal the ruling.

Mayor Brian Bowman said the police pension is something his government inherited.

“Those costs were there,” he said.

“It certainly wasn’t something I had any hand in creating. I’m actually trying to change the police pension.”

Bowman said the pension plan is “lucrative” and “high cost,” which is why he’s made efforts to change it.

The mayor acknowledged that the union won in court, but said it has “yet to acknowledge any appetite to reduce the entitlements in the pension, so it will be something we will have to deal with in the collective bargaining process.”

- With files from CTV’s Jeff Keele and Josh Crabb.