An independent audit of London’s police budget suggests taxpayers may be getting a better deal than one might think.
The audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows London’s policing costs are lower than the average.
The report gave a satisfactory rating to all categories it examined, including budgeting process, revenue generating activities and personnel costs.
Last year, the police budget came in at more than $92 million.
The average cost per person is $328 for comparable communities, but Londoners pays $270 per year for policing.
London has 156 officers for every 100,000 people, which is slightly below the average of 166 officers.
While personnel costs came in slightly below the projected budget in 2014, it made up more than 90 per cent of operating expenditures.
Deputy mayor and audit committee chair Paul Hubert says the findings are encouraging, but that doesn't make it any less taxing on ratepayers.
“The costs of policing continue to rise and whether there's the ability to sustain that. So municipalities are faced with their essential services - police fire ambulance - with increasing costs. That doesn't change. The question is where do we find the additional revenues to do that?”
