300 York Regional Police officers to retire in next five years
Residents could face years of tax hikes to replace officers

Yorkregion.com
By Lisa Queen
Dec. 12, 2016

The greying of the York Regional Police force means taxpayers are facing years of potential tax hikes to replace retiring officers.

“We will be challenged to maintain the presence of officers in the community as a result of unprecedented retirements that we face over the next five years. Between 1984 and 1990, this organization doubled its size and now there are more than 300 members set to retire on or before 2021,” Chief Eric Joliffe told regional councillors during a police budget presentation.

“Quite simply, our organization isn’t built to sustain this pace of retirements and we need your help to ensure that we continue to provide adequate, effective of policing here in York Region.”

The force will face a similar retirement crunch beginning in 2034 as a result of hires between 2003 to 2008, Joliffe said.

The force is unique when it comes to retirements because it takes 18 months to recruit and train rookie officers needed to be in place when veteran officers retire, he said.

The department is looking to hire 21 new officers next year, which is close to double the previously planned level of hiring, and it also wants to spend $1.8 million to hire in advance of upcoming retirements, treasurer Bill Hughes has said, adding some revenue from the provincial government will help to offset the costs.

Hiring new officers is needed in fast-growing York even though the region is one of the safest communities in Canada, Joliffe said.

At the same time, crime increased 5.3 per cent in 2015, including an 18.4 per cent jump in sexual violations, an 11.2 per cent hike in impaired driving charges, an 8.2 per cent increase in property crimes, a 38.6 per cent boost in dog bite and animal calls and a 32.2 per cent hike in suicide attempts.

The department must also address increasing complexities in policing, Joliffe said.

While Newmarket Councillor John Taylor said he supports the department, he raised concerns about the rising costs of policing over coming years.

“To have a one-time budget increase of 4.5 per cent is tough to manage, but if the projection out is 4-point something, 4-point something, 4-point something, that gets even harder to support,” he said.

Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti, chair of the police services board, said members of the board spent hours weighing the concerns of taxpayers against the need to provide proper police protection.

“What we really wanted to do was balance the demands that are put on police in our community,” Scarpitti said.

“We also want to obviously make sure as the board that we are providing adequate police services for York Region and all of those things against the capacity, the ability, for taxpayers to meet those financial costs associated with those services.”

Measures have been taken to mitigate the impact of rising policing costs on taxpayers, including negotiating with the police union the lowest salary increase in 20 years and scrapping for new hires a three-month salary bonus now given to retiring officers, Scarpitti said.