“All bets are off” if the Kingston Police don’t receive previously budgeted provincial government grants, said the force’s director of finance on Thursday.

John Howes made the statement at the Kingston Police Services board meeting while presenting his quarterly budget report.

He said that the force’s revenue is under budget by $419,000, but this is largely due to the fact they haven’t received the amount of government grants as they usually do, and have budgeted for.

“I have contacted the Ministry [of Community Safety and Correctional Services] and they advised the grants are on hold as they go through their expense review process,” Howes said.

Board chair Andrea Risk asked Howes if the ministry told him how long the grants would be on hold.

“No,” Howes said, holding up a memo from the ministry. “It’s very short, [grants are] all on hold as they review expenditures, and thank you for our patience.”

Currently the Kingston Police budget for grants is short by $751,000.

The local force was announced as one of many 2018 recipients of $950,581 Policing Effectiveness and Modernization Grant and a $83,320 Policing Effectiveness and Modernization Grant. The ministry has 13 different grants listed on their website under policing.

In an emailed statement to the Whig-Standard from Brett Weltman, press secretary for Minister Michael Tibollo, echoed Howes’ statement.

“The Government of Ontario is in the process of reviewing expenditures, which will inform service delivery planning as part of the multi-year planning process,” wrote Weltman. “As such, disbursement of funds under the ministry’s grant programs are currently on hold.”

Mayor Bryan Paterson asked Howes to clarify that if they get the grants by the end of the year the budget would be balanced, but if they don’t they’ll be in trouble.

“Correct,” Howes said, but even then it may be tight.

He explained that while overtime is over budget by $325,000 — thanks to covering officers off on WSIB as well as responding to St. Patrick’s Day and Move-In weekend at Queen’s University — there hasn’t been a major incident for investigative services, which saves some money. He hopes investigative services are under budget $80,000 but if there is a major incident, such as a large investigation, that could change.

While the report to the board states that the force should be on budget at the end of the year, Howes said at the meeting: “If the government grants don’t come in, all bets are off… I just can’t cover that much.”

MPP for Kingston and the Islands Ian Arthur said his office is looking into why the grants have been put on pause.

“We’ll absolutely be bringing this up in the legislature,” Arthur said. “It is still developing, we are seeking more information on what the implications of this cut means for Ontario.”

As he understands it, all grants from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services are under a financial review.

“They say they’re doing their line-by-line budget analysis looking for savings,” Arthur said. “But if you dig a bit into the numbers that this government is faced with, it’s a massive deficit… they’re determined to find the revenue wherever they can and unfortunately it’s communities that are paying the price.”

scrosier@postmedia.com

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