THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay Police Service and the Thunder Bay Police Services Board each incurred expenses that left them considerably over-budget by the end of 2022.
The police had net operating expenses of $53 million, which was $3.4 million — or seven per cent — more than what was budgeted for last year.
The approved budget for 2023 is $52 million.
According to a report prepared for the Thunder Bay Police Services Board, the main cause of the increase expenditures last year was an extra $1.8 million in overtime costs.
Contributing factors included a new collective agreement with officers regarding increased staffing for uniform patrol, a requirement to pay out all time-in-lieu balances by year-end, and overtime related to sudden death investigations and major crime such as homicides.
The report also cites an unexpected increase of about $1 million for wages and fringe benefits related to "the necessary realignment of staffing resources within senior administration" and the cost of dealing with a backlog of recording and transcribing police reports.
These and other unanticipated expenditures were partially offset by a large increase in revenue for providing security on a pay-for-service basis, and by higher-than-expected criminal record search fees.
The report states "paid duty activity was much greater than estimated as the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre has requested paid duty services in the Emergency Department to improve safety since July 2022."
Combined with higher-than-expected revenue from criminal record searches, these fees generated $458,000 more than what TBPS budgeted for them last year.
Legal costs pushed police board costs much higher
At the Thunder Bay Police Services Board, legal costs in 2022 pushed expenditures far beyond the 2022 budget of $454,000.
A memorandum prepared for the board's meeting on Tuesday shows that costs came in at $702,000 more than that.
"Legal costs through 2022 were inflated well beyond the planned budget largely due to costs incurred in responding to various Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario complaints," the memo states.
It adds that legal costs arising from the Mamakwa-McKay inquest, along with added work on the human rights tribunal files, contributed further to overall expenses.
According to the memo, legal costs included not only representation for the board itself, "but also indemnification of various members of the service arising from a variety of actions that were ongoing throughout the year, at unprecedented levels."
The police board's budget for 2023 is $719,000.
