The Sarnia Police Services budget took some heat Tuesday during Sarnia City Council budget deliberations.
Councillor Cindy Scholten raised a motion to reduce the police budget by $200,000, stressing that salaries and benefits, including overtime costs, makes up 90 per cent of their budget.
As of November 17, the updated police budget totaled nearly $21.9-million.
Police Chief Phil Nelson said 2015 was a difficult year for them, as they faced two homicides and officers on leave.
"It's a very good question we talk about overtime, it's one that we wrestle with every year when we establish a budget," says Chief Nelson. "You try to base it upon past predictions, but nobody can predict when certain offenses are going to take place or, as I said this year, the shortage of man power and that includes civilian staff too."
Nelson says in his 41 years of policing Sarnia, he's never known a time when 10 per cent of his workforce was off on serious injuries or sickness.
Councillor Scholten's motion of $200,000 and a motion amendment of $50,000 worth of reductions to the police budget were both defeated.
