High worker’s compensation charges will cut into parts of the police budget that could be used on things such as community policing, Police Chief Ron Gignac told the city’s police services board Wednesday. Photo by Robert D. Champagne, QNet News
By Robert D. Champagne [1]
BELLEVILLE – Two per cent of the Belleville Police Service’s budget this year – almost $320,000 – could be eaten up by charges stemming from officers and civilian staff being off work due to operational stress and injury.
As the Belleville Police Services Board [2] met Wednesday morning to appoint new committee members, Police Chief Ron Gignac said the $320,000 comes from premiums and surcharges the department has to pay to Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. That’s a 41-per-cent increase over the amount paid last year, he said.
The big increase is because of the number of employees off work because of workplace-related issues, Gignac said, citing post-traumatic stress disorder as a big factor.
Several members of the board, including Mayor Mitch Panciuk, suggested that the workers’ compensation charges be covered by city’s budget rather than the police department’s. This wouldn’t change overall municipal spending, since either way city taxpayers must cover the charge, but it would allow the police department to keep the $320,000.
The surcharges that the department faces – $176,000 of the total $320,000 – come because of a rule introduced by Ontario’s former Liberal government targeting employers with a high rate of workers’ compensation claims.
Panciuk said the surcharges rule “sucks.”
“It’s disappointing. It flies in the face of being open for business,” he said, referring to the Conservative provincial government’s slogan.
Because the meeting was the first of 2020, it also saw various appointments. Former city councillor Jack Miller retains his position as chair, while Coun. Kelly McCaw remains vice-chair.
The budget committee will be made up of McCaw and citizen representative Heather Smith.
McCaw and Miller will serve on the negotiations committee, Smith and McCaw on the community and safety plan committee, and Miller on the committee overseeing the construction of the new police headquarters.
Panciuk is the only member of the financial assistance committee, as it was left with one vacancy to leave room for the replacement of an outgoing member, Tom Lafferty.
Lafferty is only serving on the board until Feb. 7.
The five-member civilian board governs the Belleville Police Service.