The Hamilton Police Board Budget Committee endorsed a 2026 net operating budget of $240.2 million during their final budget committee meeting on Nov. 4.
The net operating budget represents an increase of $16.5 million (7.37 per cent) compared to 2025.
The 2025 budget was $227 million, which represented a 5.7 per cent increase compared to 2024.
Included in the budget is a total of $18.6 million in capital expenditures for items such as new vehicles and equipment.
Various reserves and development charges help to offset much of the capital expenditure costs.
The Budget Committee originally started with a $245 million net operating budget ($21.3 million or 9.48 per cent increase compared to 2025) when they met for the first time on Sept. 14.
In that initial budget, Hamilton Police attributed $12.1 million of the net increase (5.4 percentage points of the 9.48 per cent increase) to sustaining core services.
Those core services include HPS collective agreements, contractual obligations for building maintenance, utilities, software subscriptions, and other obligatory expenses.
Another $3.02 million of the net increase (1.3 percentage points) was attributed to “Recruitment and Retention” increases, including WSIB, recruitment strategies, and training.
Next, $2.93 million of the net increase (1.3 percentage points) was attributed to “Responding to Community Demand,” including HPS’ Human Capital Deployment Strategy, the creation of an Intimate Partner Violence Unit, and Core Patrol.
Another $2.16 million (1.0 percentage points) was attributed to “Investing in Technology and Infrastructure,” including asset management, the implementation of body-worn cameras, taser replacement, and modernizing technology.
Finally, the remaining $1.01 million (0.5 percentage points) was attributed to “Navigating the Impact of Tariffs,” including an alternative supply chain.
The initial budget outlook also forecasted a $266.8 million budget in 2027 (8.93 per cent increase), $278.6 million budget in 2028 (4.41 per cent increase), and $296.2 million budget in 2029 (6.35 per cent).
HPS then presented a net operating and capital budget of $243.4 million ($19.7 million or 8.79 per cent increase compared to 2025) at the final Hamilton Police Services Board Budget Committee meeting on Nov. 4.
Contributing to the reduction, HPS decided to defer their Cell Site Simulator project to 2027, decreasing the budget impact by $850,000.
Other factors contributing to the reduction are a $245,500 decrease in tariff impacts, a $234,118 reduction in the expected costs for taser cartridges resulting from an arrangement with a vendor, and a $212,578 reduction after the number of staff for the Disclosure Unit was reduced from five to three.
HPS also brought forward six other ways that the 2026 net operating budget could be reduced.
The committee chose to move forward with four of them.
They approved implementing a 10 per cent service fee adjustment to increase revenues by $230,000 and approved increasing the paid duty administration fee for for-profit enterprises from 20 to 30 per cent to increase revenues by $211,000.
The committee also approved applying an assumption of shared Provincial Offences Act revenues from the City of Hamilton, even though they do not yet have an agreement. That results in a $1.23 million reduction in the net operating budget.
The committee also applied a projected 2025 budget surplus of $1.5 million to the 2026 budget.
That is how the committee ended up at the current net operating budget of $240.2 million ($16.5 million or 7.37 per cent increase compared to 2025).
Now that the Budget Committee has completed its work, the Hamilton Police Service Board will hold a budget meeting on Nov. 27 to review the ask.
The HPS budget will eventually go before Hamilton City Council’s General Issues Committee on Jan. 27.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
