Edmonton Police Service: Funding Facts
As we head into the first week of October, Council is set to discuss a new funding formula with the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) for the next 4 year budget cycle. There’s a lot of information swirling around and diverse views on the topic of police funding. I thought it would be good to put some data on police funding in Edmonton all in one spot.
Did Edmonton City Council cut police funding?
Police funding has increased year over year. In 2022, the police funding from the City of Edmonton was $407 million. This is higher than any previous year. Plus, an additional $10.3 million was approved for EPS in August 2022 specifically to address concerns in Chinatown.
Here is a breakdown of funding to EPS in recent years:
2019 - $378 million
2020 - $394 million
2021 - $406 million
2022 - $407 million (plus the additional $10.3 million in August 2022).
According to a police budget review conducted by the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance (CSKA), the municipal contributions to the EPS overall operating budget has averaged an annual increase of 5% between 2010 - 2020 (page 16).
2. How does police funding in Edmonton stack up with other cities?
Comparing across jurisdictions is not comparing apples to apples, as there are different funding models and legislation across provinces. However, according to the same report by CSKA, Edmonton has the highest per capita gross expenditure by almost $40 more per capita.
When comparing directly with Calgary, the most comparable city, Edmonton spends $397 per capita while Calgary spends $357 per capita.
3. How do other major municipalities fund their police?
Edmonton is unique in incorporating a funding formula as a way to set police funding. This happened between 2016 - 2020. There are a lot of merits within the reports presented in October 3rd, 2022 Council agenda packages on the use of a funding formula as well as challenges.
Calgary and Edmonton are the only two municipalities that approve police funding on a 4 year budget. The other municipalities reviewed approve police funding on an annual basis.
4. What is the proposed funding formula?
The funding formula was paused during the pandemic.
A new proposed new formula will be debated by City Council the week of October 3rd, 2022. The proposed formula estimates a 0.4% tax increase (approx. $7 million) annually over the next 4 years.
The formula includes population growth, inflation, and operating impacts of capital projects (police initiated).
The formula does NOT include several other costs that can emerge over this time period that would make the tax increase amount higher including:
Financial impacts due to legislative changes
City policies, program or service that increases demand for policing
Partnerships for community safety and well-being that require police resources
Operating impacts of capital (city initiated)
A public hearing would be required to make any changes to this funding formula once approved.
What are your thoughts on this information?
