The Saint John Police Force headquarters. (Staff photo)
The city has announced $1 million in payroll cuts to a number of its services.
The cuts are in addition to more than $5 million in previously announced payroll reductions in order for the city to curb its $10 million deficit in 2020.
Saint John fire will see the biggest change in funding, with an additional $515,000 coming out of its budget, bringing the total cuts to $1.875 million.
Cuts to outside workers in Local 18 jumped from $960,000 to $1.29 million, police reductions went from $1.175 million to $1.3 million, inside workers with Local 486 will need to cut $826,000 as opposed to $680,000, and cuts to management and professional staff have gone from $840,000 to $912,000.
The cuts to policing were a contentious issue at Monday’s council meeting.
While council is able to set the amount of the cuts, it will be up to the police commission to decide where the funds come from.
Councillor David Hickey said though he voted for the cuts, he believes the discussion of where the money comes from should be had publicly.
“I would appreciate if there was an intention in offering an expectation that council be made aware of the intended impacts to the police force and the workforce as well,” Hickey said.
Mayor Don Darling and councillor Gary Sullivan are city representatives on the police commission.
Darling encouraged residents with beliefs on where the cuts should come from to reach out and speak up.
“People should feel free to speak up to their police commission,” Darling said. “They should call their chief of police, they should write their chief of police.”
Sullivan says there is a reason for some of the mystery when it comes to the police budget.
“It would be inappropriate for anyone to say, and this is just an example: we can’t afford to give out speeding tickets anymore. We won’t put radar into vehicles anymore because it costs too much,” Sullivan suggested. “We don’t want to advertise to people that suddenly you can do whatever you want on the streets of Saint John.”
