Today, November 26th, was the second day of budget deliberations for Saugeen Shores Town Council.
One of the key presentations was from Police Services Board, John Woodley Vice-Chair and Chief Kevin Zettel. The Police Serve is required to “… provide adequate and effective police services ad detailed in the Community and Policing Services Act”.
Under the platoon style of policing there are four sergeants with four constables under each who are the “boots on the ground” policing.
Police are also involved in many partnerships for the benefit of the community.
The 2026 budget has two capital requests – the re-instalment of the canine unit and the hiring of two new officers
Councillor Bud Halpin said that the town has to have a balanced budget. “This year the police budget makes up half of the tax rate. I would like to see the budget come in at the rate of inflation. I think we should delay the hiring of two officers. We need to cut almost $400,000 off the budget to present one that the people of Saugeen Shores expect. We need to put a handle on spending.”
Deputy Mayor and Chair of the Police Services Board, Diane Huber, said that residents support the police. The budget is fundamentally about people and “… we are dealing with a unionized force. Two additional hirings are necessary for when there are issues such as parental leave or long/short term disability as there is currently no ability to fill in. Officers are trained and cannot be brought in on a temporary basis … there are difficulties when there are a few people off and a cadet before being brought in has to have a certain level of training at the police training centre in St. Thomas. This budget sets up the opportunity to be staffed properly, particularly for next summer. We have to make sure we have enough officers for the community.”
She also pointed out that while there may be the opportunity to balance budgets, there are also collective bargaining situations and the necessity to match the population when it grows seasonally.
According to Chief Zettel, the ‘Cop for Pop’ (police officer per population) provincial average is one officer for 584 residents. If, at the proposed complement of 29 officers (currently 27), the municipality is still below the provincial average at one for 635, based on ‘static’ population, not taking into account the fluctuation in the summer. “We are one of the lowest per capita,” said Chief Zettel.
Board member Woodley reminded Council that, “Visitors also have to be considered, such as the tourist camps. In total, there are 176 lots and Port Elgin 347 lots and therefore there are more than 3,000 people just in those camps in the summer. There are also Bruce Power contract workers and our population fluctuates a lot over time. If, therefore, the service has to have people off or at court, that affects the complement. The Chief and senior administration have actually been on the ground to fill in.”
Deputy Mayor Diane Mayor also added that the Police Benevolence fund enables the community to contribute to the unhoused/homeless through the police to provide support that is vital for helping the situation. She also added that, “Under legislation, there must be a senior officer available 24/7 to meet that requirement and, therefore, that has also costed the service. All three senior administration officers have, in fact, had to be out on calls.”
The Police and Community Policing Act under provincial legislative requirements has put a lot of onus on training, such as dealing with mental health crises response training that also requires annual re-certification at a cost of $400 per officer. The overall training budget has doubled just to meet provincial training requirements. “It’s the busiest year for mandatory training requirements I have seen in almost 25 years,” said Chief Zettel. “All this plays into the complement of officers available so that we are often running only two officers at a time which means one officer for 9,000 people. It is not pretty and has required everyone to step up to the plate to fill in overtime shifts, prisoner escourts, road calls, etc.”
“When it comes to the ‘platoons’ where there is one sergeant with a platoon of four which means 20 officers, we were recently down six in the middle of peak summer due to injuries, surgeries, parental leaves and one suspension. Therefore, we were down to 14 officers covering 24/7 in four platoons. The best way to increase our number is through cadets meaning a young workforce with young families. We have to staff to protect ourselves. It has been a very challenging year and we are not done yet,” added the Chief.
In the budget, 88.9 per cent is people – wages, benefits, training, uniforms, equipment, etc. Therefore, the only savings is through non-hiring. All senior management, the Deputy Chief and Inspector, are now filling in on night shifts, road patrols, etc. just to maintain minimum standards. The remaining (budget dollars) is obligatory dispatch costs ($300,000) and seven per cent (7%) for utilities, fuel, contract services, etc. “We have looked at where we could find savings and are just trying to maintain what we have while meeting legislative requirements.”
Vice-deputy Mayor Mike Myatt said he was in support of the budget. “We are growing in population and we either have to pay now or pay later. We are expected to grow to 20,000 by 2030 and 60 per cent of the community, according to a survey, are in support of police safety. This community is asking for public safety and security. If out of the $25 million budget we need to find savings, it should be out of other areas. Delaying an officer now is delaying the inevitable.”
Councillor Bud Halpin said that although the police do an excellent job, he would prefer to see the hiring of two officers staggered to provide tax relief – one in January and another in the fall of 2026. “In 2020, 20 cents of every tax dollar went to policing and it is 23.67 for 2026, which is 25% of the budget to the police. I would be in favour of delaying an officer.”
Councillor Rachel Stack pointed out that police are not just a “want to have but a need” and some of the items in the budget are “wants”. “I think we should have to look at other items that could be cut.”
At the end, Police Chief Kevin Zettel explained that Council was delving into an area that falls under the jurisdiction of the provincial Community and Police Services Act and which is not allowed. “Council either accepts the budget or sends it back to the Police Services Board it but should not go into hiring practices, etc.”
Mayor Luke Charbonneau said that the people like having a local police service and like the level of service. “It looks like Council is in favour of the police budget today.”
Councillor Bud Halpin ended however, stressing that, although in support of a local excellent police service, he wanted it to cost less.
