LONDON, Ont. -- City hall's list of options to balance its budget just got shorter.
The London Police Services Board (LPSB) tells CTV News it cannot find additional cost savings in its budget request.
City hall must fill a larger than anticipated financial gap in the 2020-2023 municipal budget.
Council set the average annual tax increase target at 2.7 per cent, but that figure currently stands at 3.2 per cent, including a four per cent increase next year.
Last week, council passed a motion asking all boards and commissions to look at possible reductions to save money.
Now just nine days later, Councillor Jesse Helmer, the LPSB budget chair, confirms London police will offer no additional savings to city hall.
“Certainly it is a decided matter of council and we have to respond to the request from council, and we are going to, and the response is - we've already done that.”
Last month, the board shaved almost a million dollars out of the four-year police budget by moving 15 new positions from the base budget to city hall’s assessment growth process.
Last week, in his role as ward three councillor, LPSB Chair Mo Salih voted against the motion seeking additional savings because he felt the board had already found savings.
Helmer also argued against the motion.
“I tried to convince council not to go ahead with that. Obviously they did. They didn't want to exclude anyone. We can just pass that along to the city and say, look, we've already reduced it by almost a million dollars and we look forward to seeing what the potential reductions are from anywhere else.”
The news intensifies the spotlight on the remaining boards and commissions to further tighten their belts.
Budget deliberations get underway at city hall in January.
