Thread by @GrantRants

I'm working one some new political features for you, but in the meantime, here is a quick #niagaravotes2018 #factcheck. Today, we look at the campaign literature of Niagara Falls regional councillor and @NiagRegPolice board chair Bob Gale. Here is the back of his flier. (Thread)

One of the things to note is the police budget increases from 2003 to 2014 which he pegs at 14% to 30%, where as in his tenure as chair, it is much lower. This is true as far as it goes, but it lacks critical context.

One of the things to point out here is that in the early 2000s, the NRP expanded its size by hiring more officers. This was after years of either reductions or effective hiring freezes. There has been no comparable expansion in many years, naturally stabilizing budget growth.

Also worth noting is that when these officers were hired, they were often hired under provincial funding programs that temporarily covered the salaries of new officers. Over time, that funding ran out and the NRP had to paid those salaries out of local taxes.

Similarly, there is not really an apples to apples comparison to collective agreements from 2000 and that of, say, 2017. In the early 200s, there was an aggressive push to bring NRP salaries in line with other Ontario police services. That kind of push is not happening now.

Which has less to do with any particular police board or its chair, and much more to do with the current state of police politics and what police unions are asking for.

But the big thing to note here is what is not included in Mr. Gale's police budget figures: that the service has been running a deficit for 2 years. 2017 ended with a $7 million deficit requiring the board to raid police reserves and asked @NiagaraRegion to cover the $2.4 million

For context: stcatharinesstandard.ca/news-story/833…

Critics, including the @NRPA1969 have pointed to the "zero per cent" budget of 2016 as the start of chronic deficit budgeting because it was unrealistic.

The 2017 budget overruns were the result of the board under-budgeting for the final contract arbitration with the police union, unexpected retirements and the controversial payout of former NRP Chief @ChiefMcGuire 's contract - resulting in Niagara taxpayers paying for TWO chiefs

Here is the story on the McGuire buyout: stcatharinesstandard.ca/news-story/833…

And here is the story about the buyout causing Niagara taxpayers to pay for two chiefs at the same time: stcatharinesstandard.ca/news-story/834…

Gale's literature also claims permanent savings by moving civilian staff into some administrative roles previously done by officers. This claim does not, however, account for pay increases as those officers move up through the ranks.

The flier also claims that the NRP will reduce overtime by $600,000 dollars. This is always a tricky claim to make for any police services, given that a single complex incident can blow an OT budget out the water - like the Sept 5 triple shooting in downtown St. Catharines.

Police budgeting is a very complex issue, and the flier is correct to say it human resources consumes much of it and finding ways to contain policing costs are difficult.