Winnipeg Police Service spending continued to skyrocket last year, with total expenditures up a staggering 8.8% compared to the previous year, according to financial statements going to the Winnipeg Police Board this week.

Yes, police spending is still a major problem in this city.

The WPS spent $287.7 million in 2016, up from $263.1 million the year before. Expenses went up in all categories, including salaries and benefits, services, and materials. The biggest increase by far though – as usual – was in salaries and benefits, including soaring pension costs.

The police budget has skyrocketed in recent years, taking up an increasingly larger share of the city budget over the past decade. From 2005 to 2015, the police budget more than doubled from $127 million to $263 million. Salaries and benefits, including pension costs, are the biggest drivers. Cops haven’t had a salary increase below the rate of inflation once since 2000 and have regularly enjoyed annual increases of 3.5% to 4%. Add in an underfunded pension plan taxpayers have been forced to top up and it’s easy to see why the police budget has increased as rapidly as it has. More than half of constables are now paid over $100,000 a year when overtime is included.

Skyrocketing salary and benefit costs were no exception last year. Salaries and benefits went up 6.5% from $225 million to $239.7 million. That’s more than three times the rate of inflation. And there were a number of factors behind that increase. One was the annual salary increase for the year as contained in the collective agreement. But pension costs also jumped a staggering 17.8% from $26.9 million to $31.7 million, in part to top up an underfunded plan. Overtime costs fell slightly to $9.3 million from $9.4 million, but still remain high. And costs for standby pay, shift premiums, dental care and vision care all went up.

There is no way taxpayers can keep paying for these increases, not without jacking up property and other taxes – which are already on the rise – even further. These increases are not sustainable by any stretch of the imagination. Most people have not seen their wages rise 3% to 4% a year, if at all, and can’t afford to keep paying higher taxes every year.

The good news is the police budget is up only 1% by mid-year in 2017. Salary and benefit costs have increased 1.9% due to annual increments and rising pension costs. Overtime is also up 2.4%.

However, because of the new collective agreement signed this year with the police service, overall salaries and benefits are expected to come in below budget in 2017. There is a 2.5% salary increase this year but it doesn’t take effect until Dec. 31, so it will have no impact on this year’s finances.

Next year may be a different story.

And that’s where the big debate is. You may have noticed the police union ratcheting up the rhetoric in recent months about rising calls for service and how criminals don’t consider cost-of-living increases when they plan their crimes. That campaign is an effort to try to get public opinion onside with more generous funding for police in 2018.

City hall is currently putting together its operating and capital budgets for next year and one of the biggest cost pressures is policing.

The other good news is that the latest collective agreement signed with the police union includes slightly more sustainable salary increases of about 2.5% a year for five years. It’s still well above the rate of inflation. And many of the pension provisions are still far too expensive for taxpayers – including the fact that overtime remains a pensionable earning. But some progress has been made.

Winnipeg has the worst violent crime in Canada. But the violent crime severity index was lower in 2016 than it was in 2010 and 2011. Calls for service are growing, but calls to the 911 centre have levelled off. The work police do is often more complicated than it used to be. But there are also fewer crimes to investigate. On balance, policing costs shouldn’t be going up by 8% or 9%. They can’t.

Taxpayers can no longer afford it.