The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) is seeking a $22.8-million increase to its operating budget for 2025 but the city’s finance department says it is only prepared to accept a $10-million boost over the 2024 budget.
The request comes as the VPD predicts it will be over budget by the end of this year by approximately $9 million, with overtime costs related to policing protests and escorting city cleanup crews on East Hastings Street driving much of the deficit.
The VPD has requested $434,166,680 to operate in 2025, whereas city staff has calculated that a budget of $421,451,673 is more in line with Mayor Ken Sim’s stated goal to cap the 2025 property tax increase at 5.5 per cent.
Under a city staff-preferred scenario, 0.85 per cent of a 5.5 per cent tax increase would be required to allot the $421 million. If the VPD were to get what it wants, a $434-million budget would require 1.90 per cent of a 5.5 per cent tax hike.
Discussion about the disparity in dollars will be on the agenda at the Vancouver Police Board’s Nov. 21 meeting, where members will decide which increase is warranted. It will then be up to city council to make a final decision sometime in December.
Body worn cameras
A report going before the board explains the VPD’s rationale for the $22.8-million increase, listing 14 items, the most expensive being $6 million to implement a permanent body worn camera program for frontline officers.
The VPD has run a trial this year with the cameras and has completed an evaluation report. The board is expected to hear an update Thursday on the camera program.
The move to have officers wear cameras was a campaign promise from Sim and his ABC Vancouver colleagues.
The next most expensive request is $1.4 million to cover overtime accrued by officers deployed to what has been an increasing number of protests and demonstrations. If approved, this would be an annual line item in the budget.
The VPD also wants $1.1 million to restore the “facilities capital fund,” which was used to accommodate 100 new officers being hired — another campaign promise of ABC Vancouver.
The other requested items cover a range of topics, including $391,220 for a “rapid DNA machine,” $300,000 for an online recruiting application program and $300,000 for body armour and ammunition.
'Meet public safety needs'
Police board member Jason Murray told his colleagues at the board’s Oct. 31 meeting about the difficult task of setting a provisional budget that falls within the mayor’s recommended 5.5 per cent property tax cap.
Murray is the chair of the board’s finance, audit and risk committee.
“It is a challenge to bring forward a budget within a narrow five and a half per cent property tax increase mandate,” he said.
“It bears mention that the board and the city each have an interest in public safety. Our joint task is to ensure adequate and effective policing and law enforcement in our community that reflects the levels of service required to meet public safety needs and priorities.”
At the beginning of the year, city council approved the VPD’s operating budget of $411,707,234, which was an increase of $32,039,225, or 8.44 per cent from what the department’s finance team refers to as the 2023 adjusted budget.
The budget then increased to $412,487,235 to account for “a one-time market rate adjustments and funding to offset incurred VPD costs as part of the Vancouver park board liquor consumption in parks pilot program,” according to a separate finance report going before the board Thursday.
'Great value for their money'
An annual increase in VPD budgets has been historically expected, with a report released in November 2023 predicting the department will need an operating budget of close to $500 million by 2028.
The prediction of $486 million is based on estimated salary and payroll benefit increases of 1,400-plus officers, covering attrition from retirements and the financial impact of hiring 100 new cops over the next couple of years.
Potential future collective agreement wage increases, anticipated E-Comm levy hikes and minor inflation adjustments for some non-salary items are other factors driving the need for bigger budgets.
Wage settlements alone from ratified or arbitrated collective agreements continue to grow at a rate faster than inflation, according to the report.
At the time, Police Chief Adam Palmer told Glacier Media that the department’s budget has seen the same percentage increase as the overall city budget for 30 years.
“So if you go back to 1990 and you look at the trajectory, it's always been 20 to 21 per cent, which is what it is today, and what it will be in 2024 and I'm sure in 2028,” Palmer said.
Added Palmer: “The budget in any public sector organization over a five-year period is going to increase. Vancouver is a big city. It costs a lot of money to keep Vancouver safe. That's what it costs and people get great value for their money.”
The budget request comes as crime continues to trend down in Vancouver.
Thursday’s police board meeting begins at 1 p.m. at the VPD’s Cambie Street precinct. The meeting can be viewed online via the board’s website.
