Belleville Police Services’ 2026 Operating Budget approved as part of the 2026 Belleville Operating Budget – was $33,524,718, a 15.63% increase over the 2025 Belleville Police Operating Budget. The police budget is funded by property taxes and caused a 3.5% property tax increase in 2026.
Belleville Police’s budget has grown 58% in 4 years (2022 to 2026) and will account for 23% of property taxes. Over the last 5 years, the increase has been 62% ($12,878,118) for an average annual increase of 10.2%.
Over this time, the increase vastly outpaces:
- Inflation (CPI for Ontario): 22.2% (using a forecast of 2% for 2026)
- Estimated population growth: 14% (StatsCan)
- and the total threshold to maintain real per capita spending (CPI + pop. growth): 36.2%.
Policing have risen faster than other expenditures on transit, library, housing or social services.
As with most organizations, the vast majority of the Belleville Police Service’s operating budget (87% in 2026) goes to staffing.
The collective agreement reached between the Belleville Police Association and the Belleville Police Service Board (BPSB) dictates that an officer in Belleville can expect raises each year until the end of the agreement, including 3.5% in 2026. This creates a predictable and constant upward pressure on the police budget each year.
Salaries, benefits and pensions account for 82% ($3,708,859) of the budget increase over 2025
Staff benefits increased by 18%
Across all divisions:
- Salaries increased by $2,685,432 (14%)
- Benefits increased by $669,405 (18%)
- Pensions increased by $354,022 (13%)
Operations
- $1,378,745 (13%) increase in salaries for Operations Division
- $407,454 (20%) increase in benefits for Operations Division
- $174,262 (11.5%) increase in pensions for Operations Division
Support
- $719,339 (21%) increase in salaries for Support Division
- $146,239 (23%) increase in benefits for Support Division
- $106,718 (22%) increase in pensions for Support Division
Administration
- $347,819 (9%) increase in salaries for Administration Division
- $73,945 (9%) increase in benefits for Administration Division
Executive
- $239,529 (19%) increase in salaries for Executive Services
- $41,767 (17%) increase in benefits for Executive Services
- $31,751 (20%) increase in pensions for Executive Services
Contribution to reserves for capital expenses increased by $234,479 (33%)
Reserves are used to pay for items in the 2026 Capital Budget such as the armored vehicle.
‘Records Mgmt IT Operating’ increased by $219,621.00 (25%)
AXON Investigative Pro Licences, Tasers, Body Worn Cameras ($354,000); OPTIC $31,000/quarter.
No change in payment on long-term debt (police station mortgage)
A spreadsheet format of the budget can be found on this Google Sheet.
February 25, 2026 – 2026 Belleville operating budget meeting approves police budget
December 8, 2025 – Police Board to review operating budget
November 23, 2025 – Police Board Chair cites police station, new collective agreements, health of members, and provincial requirements as reasons for large budget increase
Residents, neighbourhood associations, and businesses have repeatedly expressed a desire for more police visibility and quicker response times. To meet those expectations, the service must maintain appropriate staffing levels, modern equipment, and mandated training that aligns with provincial standards.
BPSB Chair Heather Smith
Chair: Police station debt payments are 3% of the budget
Approximately 3 per cent of our budget is interest and principal for a total of $1,179,800 – most police services do not have to pay for their building – a previous municipal council decided that they wanted this expense off their books and onto the Police Services.
BPSB Chair Heather Smith
Check: Police station debt was added in 2024 had no impact on 2026 increase
Police station long-term debt payments (the “mortgage”) started in 2024 and were $1,215,164 ($869,265 interest and $345,899 of principal). Total payments in 2026 are expected to be the same as 2025 and 2% ($35,364) lower than 2024.
Chair: Collective agreements adds 3.5% to salaries in 2026
We recently settled new contracts with our civilian and sworn employees which adds about 3.5 per cent to the budget without counting for the increase in benefits and pensions.
And we deferred approved hiring of eight officers in 2024 and six in 2025 – to lower budget impacts. This is unsustainable as it’s impacting the health and wellness of our members – who are working overtime to ensure platoons are staffed for patrol.
BPSB Chair Heather Smith
Salary increases and staff expansion increase salaries paid by 14%
The 2026 salary increase as per the latest collective agreements is 3.5% (I could not verify this as Belleville Police Services Board hasn’t filed their Collective Agreements with Ministry of Labour since 2019 as required by the Labour Relations Act.), but total salaries paid are projected to increase 14%.
we need to hire an additional five civilians to ensure our court is staffed appropriate according to new legislation with one court clerk and two special constables
need a digital evidence redaction specialist to ensure that digital evidence is ready to go when the court needs it or to proceed with investigations etc.
BPSB Chair Heather Smith
It is unclear where in the CSPA these staffing requirements are mentioned and if having a digital evidence redaction specialist is also a requirement.
Chair: Mental health and wellbeing of officers is at risk
we did a strategic plan this year, we did a lot of surveying, and we surveyed the men and women of the service. They are tired, they are tired of overtime, they’re stressed. They go out in platoons that are under resourced … it’s a safety and risk issue.
We’re very concerned about the men and women who serve our community, if we don’t hire these folks that they’ve been promised for years I don’t know what the impact is in delaying it another year or another two years, it’s perplexing to me what we do
BPSB Chair Heather Smith
In 2024, Chief Mike Callaghan told council that calls for service had increased by 20% in just two years and that the city did not have enough officers to handle the growing workload. Callaghan says there are too many shifts short-staffed and the stress of dealing with drug overdose and addiction issues every day is hurting frontline officers.
We can no longer place these kinds of demands on our members without psychologically breaking them. I’m going to repeat that again. We can no longer place these kinds of demands on our members without psychologically breaking them and it’s going to happen.
Chief Mike Callaghan during 2025 Operating Budget meeting
10 officers were non-deployable in 2025
In 2025, Belleville had 93 active/deployable “in-service” officers available to work out of the 103 sworn officers on the payroll for “various reasons” which were not provided. Based on the police service’s messaging, some of these officers may be on mental health/stress leave.
The BPSB’s solution is to hire more officers to fill the gap while at the same time the $45,000 budget for Psychological Support hasn’t changed since 2023.
Chair: New provincial requirements in 2024 Community Safety and Policing Act
there is a new Community Safety and Policing Act that demands compliance to the act and all of its standards – despite the fact that these standards are not resourced by the province. Training is just one such expectation… We used to train front line personnel once a year… we now must by legislation do it every year.
BPSB Chair Heather Smith
Training costs have no impact on 2026 budget increase
The CSPA came into effect in 2024, and Training costs increased 88% ($162,391) between 2024 and 2025. This accounted for roughly 5% out of the 11% 2025 operating budget increase. Training costs are proposed to be the same in 2026 as 2025 ($346,400), so they have no impact on the 2026 budget increase.
It is unclear what the other specific requirements under the CSPA may be impacting the budget.
Chair: Court Security Prisoner Transport accounts for 5%+ of the budget increase
Our municipality pays the bulk of the costs for the court house – and item that when we add up all our costs and apply the transfer cost from the province – comes up over $800,000 short – all due to a funding formula which has not changed since 2012.
BPSB Chair Heather Smith
Court Security/Prisoner Transportation costs are being downloaded to BPS by Ford government
Municipal police services are legally required to provide court security (Section 243 of the CSPA) and prisoner transport (Section 6 of O. Reg. 392/23).
The Ontario government provides ‘Court Security Prisoner Transportation’ grant funding to the Belleville Police Service to help offset the costs of the security and transport, but funding has not kept pace with the mandate.
The Ford government has been downloading the costs to the Belleville Police Service by reducing or holding steady the funding provided while inflation and collective agreements put upward pressure on service costs. Provincial funding for 2026 is projected to be 14% ($217,500) lower than in 2025 and 6% lower than 2021 levels. The service is mandatory, so municipal property taxpayers are forced to cover this funding gap.
Chair: Reserves are depleted
Unfortunately all our reserves are gone.
BPSB Chair Heather Smith
November 20, 2025 – Budget approved by BPSB
If approved by Council, Belleville Police Service’s operating budget will have increased 57.6% ($12,256,318) over the past 4 years (2022-2026) and 62% ($12,878,118) in the last 5 years (2021-2026) for an average annual increase of 10.2%.
Salary, benefits and pensions increases make up 82% ($3,708,859) of the year-over-year increase
The increase is reportedly primarily due to hiring more staff, including:
- Hire 6 officers to fill vacant positions or prepare for upcoming retirements
- Hire 2 additional officers, increasing the total to 105.
- Hire 5 additional support staff including special constables, an administrative assistant, a digital evidence redaction specialist, and a court clerk.
The largest dollar-value increases are:
- $1,378,745 (12.97%) increase in salaries for Operations Division
- $719,339 (21%) increase in salaries for Support Division
- $407,454 (20%) increase in benefits for Operations Division
- $347,819 (9.2%) increase in salaries for Administration Division
- $239,529 (18.78%) increase in salaries for Executive Services
Across all divisions:
- Salaries to increase by $2,685,432 (14%)
- Benefits to increase by $669,405 (17.8%)
- Pensions to increase by $354,022 (13.2%)
Other notable percentage increases include:
- $234,479 (33%) increase in Contribution to Reserve
- $219,621 (26%) increase in Records Mgmt IT Operating
- $107,689 (61%) increase in Contract Services
- $100,000 (40%) increase in Vehicle Maintenance
- $48,253.00 (27%) increase in Investigative Expense
- $32,801.00 (27%) increase in Radio
Analysis can be found in this Google Sheet.
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