I have been going through the 59-page Windsor-Amherstburg police contract, bit by bit, to inform the reader, and not to overwhelm.
In this post, I will show you the real cost of Amherstburg's switch to Windsor policing.
2018 was the last year Amherstburg operated and controlled its own police force. In 2018, the net operating budget for the Amherstburg Police Service was $5,482,568. Later in this post, we will compare that number to the cost of the Windsor-Amherstburg police contract.
On January 1, 2019 Windsor took over Amherstburg's policing. Here are the annual fees that Windsor will charge Amherstburg over the next five years. Amherstburg taxpayers will pay these fees to Windsor.
In this post, I will show you the real cost of Amherstburg's switch to Windsor policing.
2018 was the last year Amherstburg operated and controlled its own police force. In 2018, the net operating budget for the Amherstburg Police Service was $5,482,568. Later in this post, we will compare that number to the cost of the Windsor-Amherstburg police contract.
On January 1, 2019 Windsor took over Amherstburg's policing. Here are the annual fees that Windsor will charge Amherstburg over the next five years. Amherstburg taxpayers will pay these fees to Windsor.
In addition to the above fees, Amherstburg had to pay about $689,000 in severance, about $200,000 in top-up pay, $25,000 for a consultant, and (surprise) there are about $125,000 in legal fees set out in the 2019 police budget, and the balance of the Amherstburg Police Chief's contract costing about $125,000. These are supposed to be one-time costs that will not occur again. All of these costs are associated with the Windsor-Amherstburg police contract. Here they are in a chart:
So the total additional one-time costs for Windsor-Amherstburg policing are $1,164,000. Windsor does not pay any of this. Amherstburg pays it all. All of these costs are related to the switch from Amherstburg policing to Windsor policing.
The initial term of the Windsor police contract is five years. So I'm going to take $1,164,000 and divide it by five years. That's $232,800 per year for five years. That's going to show up below when I calculate the final cost of the contract.
On top of what I already discussed, there are more costs that Amherstburg pays. If you read my previous posts, you already know that Amherstburg must pay to maintain the Amherstburg police station, Amherstburg must pay for dispatching, and Amherstburg must pay for radio maintenance. There is also interest on some debt rolled in there somewhere. We will pay this every year so they are ongoing annual costs. According to the 2019 budget, here is a breakdown of those costs for 2019:
The initial term of the Windsor police contract is five years. So I'm going to take $1,164,000 and divide it by five years. That's $232,800 per year for five years. That's going to show up below when I calculate the final cost of the contract.
On top of what I already discussed, there are more costs that Amherstburg pays. If you read my previous posts, you already know that Amherstburg must pay to maintain the Amherstburg police station, Amherstburg must pay for dispatching, and Amherstburg must pay for radio maintenance. There is also interest on some debt rolled in there somewhere. We will pay this every year so they are ongoing annual costs. According to the 2019 budget, here is a breakdown of those costs for 2019:
So for 2019, the ongoing costs are $187,351. In the future those costs will go up, especially when the police station needs repair. But for now, they are $187,351 for 2019. These costs will be paid every year.
Now let's add this all up. Let's take all the above information and put it all in one big chart and see what the new Windsor police contract is going to cost Amherstburg for the first five years.
Now let's add this all up. Let's take all the above information and put it all in one big chart and see what the new Windsor police contract is going to cost Amherstburg for the first five years.
Remember this: the net operating budget for the Amherstburg Police Service in 2018, when Amherstburg ran its own police service, was $5,482,568. There was also an accumulated reserve fund of $371,000. Compare those numbers to what Amherstburg will pay in the first five years of the contract.
There will be no savings on the Windsor police contract in the first five years.
There will be no savings on the Windsor police contract in the first five years.