Day 2 of Calgary budget debate focuses on police spending, including new gun range

On day two of budget deliberations at city hall the Calgary Police Commission (CPC) stood before the podium to explain their request to transfer millions of dollars in unallocated community program funding towards their new gun range and training centre.

A few weeks ago, controversy arose over a request to help fund the force’s new gun range. The issue came up after the CPC requested to transfer $13 million from the Community Safety Investment Framework (CSIF) to cover the cost overruns of the gun range and training centre.

On Tuesday, commission chair Shawn Cornett told council they had no choice but to ask for the transfer to cover the costs.

“I received two letters both saying that we were not to come forward with any asks beyond what the existing budget was,” she says.

Police chief Mark Neufeld said it was a decision based on priority, adding the current training centre has lead and is not safe for officers to be in for long periods of time.

He says if the new training centre doesn’t get built it would be impossible to keep up with the number of officers they need to train.

“This training is not an option, it’s a standard that’s required,” says Neufeld. “We don’t have an option not to make sure that people are prepared.”

Council heard one of the option’s could be to take funds from the Fiscal Stability Reserve (FSR) fund. The FSR is an operating reserve intended to cover emergency operational situations, unplanned reductions in revenue, and urgent capital expenditures.

The request for the $13 million transfer prompted Coun. Courtney Walcott to speak out, questioning why the money wasn’t being used for community programming, which is what the CSIF is for.

He filed a long notice of motion which also asks the commission to explain why the estimated cost of the project skyrocketed from $10 million to $23 million.

Walcott’s motion also requests the police service reduce its operating budget by $8 million so that the city can administer all the CSIF funding. Part of this is because half of the money has already been assigned to organizations like Alpha House and the Distress Centre.

Budget deliberations will continue all week.