City council resumed debate on the multi-year budget Thursday night, but the discussions won’t get really interesting until Friday.

That’s when several city-funded boards and commissions will present their spending plans for the next four years for political approval — and that includes the London police, whose requests have already drawn fire.

Though city hall set a target of a 1.5 per cent annual budget hike, police want more than twice that, 3.5 per cent, in 2016, a large chunk of which would be used to hire 13 staff, mostly officers.

That’s more than $3 million in real dollars, and would bring the police department’s budget to $98.1 million.

The request for cash to hire staff divided the police services board that oversees the department, with council’s two representatives, Mayor Matt Brown and Stephen Turner, voting against it.

There was also input from dozens of Londoners at recent build-a-budget workshops. They were overwhelmingly against the spending.

That will all be part of the decision-making process Friday, said Coun. Josh Morgan, the mayor’s budget adviser.

“It was one (part of the budget) that signalled people want us to take a close look,” he said.

Chief John Pare has indicated he won’t budge on the request, even if it means going to the Ontario Police Commission that would essentially serve as an arbitrator.

Council is in the midst of setting London’s first multi-year budget that would set spending plans for London from 2016-19.

As it kicks into high gear Friday, the draft budget calls for an annual average tax hike of 2.6 per cent, or $71 for the typical homeowner. “Typical” being a home assessed at $221,000.

But there are several unfunded projects — such as turning a downtown portion of Dundas Street into a “flex street” — that, if all approved, would bump that average yearly hike to 3.1 per cent, or $85.

Council is expected to finalize the budget talks on March 10.

Patrick.maloney@sunmedia.ca

Twitter.com/patatLFPress