Barrie’s Mayor expressed his frustration through social media on Sunday after learning about changes in funding to Barrie Police from the Provincial Government.



In the Facebook post, Lehman says the city received the letter on Friday that indicated, “they have cut our grant by $300,000, on top of cancelling the typical annual increase of $400,000 provided by the government,” resulting in a total of $700,000 cut to public safety.



“In the midst of an opioid crisis in which the police are front line workers, it's absolutely ridiculous that the conservative government would cut funding,” said Lehman in the Facebook post, “Are you going to accept this? I'm not.”



The slash in funds specifically targets officers who serve as court security at the Provincial Courthouse on Mulcaster Street in Barrie; as well as prisoner transport officers.



Deputy Mayor Barrie Ward also posted on Facebook saying, “This year, the Barrie Police Services expected the provincially mandated level of service would cost $3.949 million. Based on past practice, the city expected the province to cover $3.484 million of the cost, leaving city taxpayers with a bill of about a half-million dollars.”



“Barrie taxpayers will now be expected to pick up a $1.2 million of the cost,” said the Ward 3 councillor’s post, “while surrounding municipalities get a free ride.”



Meanwhile, the province is denying any cuts to their program. They say it boils down to a formula the government uses to determine how much money it allocates to police forces in various municipalities across the province.”



“It’s unfortunate the Mayor of Barrie is fear mongering and playing politics with public safety,” says Richard Clark, the Director of Communications for the Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister, “The grant he is referring to is for Court Security Prisoner Transportation.”



“Funding is allocated based on each municipality’s relative share of the total court security transportation program costs across the province. For example, if a municipality’s cost represents 1% of the total provincial court security prisoner transportation cost, then it will be allocated 1% of the available funding. This means the amount municipalities receive may vary from year to year.”



Councillor Doug Shipley, who also serves on the Police Services Board says the city depends largely on provincial funding because the yearly budget has already been approved.



“We didn’t have an extra $700,000 in there, so we’re gonna have to go back now. You go to the province (and) explain this, or somehow find $700,000 in our budget," said Shipley.



“We don’t have an extra $700,000; we don’t have an extra slush fund, it’s gonna have to be found from somewhere.”



Barrie Police refused to comment on Sunday. The Chief`s executive team and senior police officials will meet in the coming days to assess the changes.