The Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board has identified a $2.9 million deficit in the 2024 budget — nearly half a million dollars more than the $2.5 million in police overspending initially confirmed earlier this month.
Reading from a prepared statement, board chair John Bruno said the deficit is largely due to “staffing pressures, overtime and pay-equity-related salary adjustments,” during the open portion of a regularly scheduled police board meeting held Wednesday.
A hiring freeze, reduced discretionary spending and looking at alternative funding streams such as grants, in addition to working with the city’s finance department to improve financial forecasting will be among the belt-tightening measures going forward.
“The board remains committed to responsible fiscal management, while ensuring the delivery of adequate and effective policing for the community,” Bruno said.
The board said Sault Ste. Marie Police Service has been contending with an “unprecedented” number of its members off duty due to unspecified workplace injuries, with anywhere between 15 and 20 per cent of its 169 officers currently off work.
That, combined with a “significant rise” in major occurrences, has contributed to a “substantial increase in workload,” the board said in a statement released Wednesday.
Costs associated with overtime and staffing contributed approximately $2,499,000 to the overall deficit, including:
- Overtime over budget for major occurrences, staffing shortages and investigative expenses - $942,000
- Full-time employees over complement - $717,000
- Vacation accrual (liability, not financial payment - $390,000
- Salary extras (relieving pay, stat holiday pay, retirement payouts, etc.) - $327,000
- Court time over budget - $63,000
Interim police chief Brent Duguay told reporters the majority of the overtime in 2024 has been attributed to “investigative support,” which includes the deployment of tactical teams and drug units.
“Those are calls that take time and resources to make sure they're done effectively,” Duguay said following the open portion of Wednesday’s board meeting.
“So yes, I believe there is some correlation to the fact that we have to take more time and do fuller investigations, which obviously takes manpower and resources.”
Increased expenditures in salaries and benefits for members of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, meanwhile, has also been identified as a contributing factor to cost overruns.
“In anticipation of multiple retirements projected for 2024, the service undertook proactive recruitment efforts to ensure that staffing levels remained sufficient to meet its obligations to deliver adequate and effective policing to the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie and Prince Township,” the police services board said in a release.
“A number of officers eligible for retirement, however, have continued to serve, resulting in staffing levels — and associated costs — exceeding budgetary forecasts.”
Duguay believes police services do their best to predict what will happen down the road.
“We don't ever want to leave ourselves in a position where we don't have officers hired, and now cannot provide adequate and effective policing on the road,” he said.
Increased salaries and retroactive payments, following a mandated five-year pay equity review of all positions, also accounted for a budget overrun of roughly $378,000 last year.
The Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board was first notified of the 2024 deficit by the city’s finance department in February.
“We then started taking steps to identify where those deficits were, ensuring that we can have them addressed properly when we finally come to the media,” Duguay said.
The board has pledged to present regular financial projections at future board meetings in the name of transparency.
“We have obviously taken a look at all the potential areas where we can reduce the deficit moving forward. We're going to continue to do that,” Duguay said.
A shortfall of $1.9 million is currently projected for the 2025 budget.