In the battle of expressions, “you get what you pay for” rarely wins over “a penny saved is a penny earned”.
As Belleville finalized the spending plan for the Friendly City yesterday, one budget had been discussed more than all others combined.
The Belleville Police Service budget increased 15% over last year leading people to ask why or more accurately “why is it so much higher than last year and also so much larger an increase than other departments and agencies?”
So now, I am going to tell you. Most of it involves math.
You see, Belleville’s population has exploded over the past 5-10 years (especially), with an increase of 5,000 people over a five-year census period. That’s 10%.
More people means more crime. Increases in cost of living means more property crime especially and a growing homeless population also means more challenges across the board. Drug crimes are also way up, much more than you probably hear about.
The same department that had to wait more than 20 years for a new police station also had their funding requests undercut by 1-3% or more in multiple years in the name of “affordability”. Doing more with less has their motto almost as much as “to protect and serve”.
No one at the Belleville Police Service wanted to present a budget with a 15% increase. They knew how unpopular it would be, but with a growing population under threat from drug dealers, organized crime and also human trafficking, a lower number meant increased risk for every single person in the city. That’s not a bargain. It’s rolling the dice with people’s safety, and that’s always a bad deal no matter how you spin it.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking beyond the headlines.
