2026 Belleville Police Capital Budget requests $1.2M in funding for armoured vehicle, new phones and weather metres for snipers

Belleville Police Services’ budget for 2026 Capital Budget requested $1.2M in funding, accounting for 2.15% of the total 2026 Draft Capital Budget of $55.5M for the City of Belleville. Purchases included:

$180k for the replacement of a Tahoe & Sienna from the Casino – Vehicle Replacement Reserve Fund.

The remaining $1M included the following specialized equipment, funded by the Police Services Reserve Fund, which has been primarily funded by property taxes:

• $114K for Prisoner Transport Van
• $109k for Faro Focus Premium 200m Laser Scanner
• $100K for armored vehicle (‘Community Rescue Vehicle’)
• $49K to replace 60 Samsung S23+ phones that are under 3 years old (released in 2023). In April 2025, BPS IT Unit’s 2024 Annual Report mentioned the successful rollout of approximately 120 new mobile devices were deployed to sworn and select civilian staff. Vehicle docking stations were also updated to accommodate the new hardware.
• $30K for Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Camera Improvements
• $15K for 20 AVON respirators given to front line officers for defending against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents, as well as toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) and toxic industrial materials (TIMs).
• $3K for 4 WARQ Training Protective Helmets
• $2K for a Concept 2 BikeErg exercise bike
• $1.5K for 2 Kestrel 5700 weather meters for basic sniper courses

The Police Services Reserve Fund is funded by year-end police operating surplus and contributions to the reserve fund from their operating budget (1-8-7000365-0980 Contribution to Reserve).

In 2024, the net contribution to reserve in 2024 was -$39,968 compared to a budgeted contribution of $620,500. The projected 2025 closing balance for the Reserve fund is a deficit of ($628,957) resulting from the approved Capital expenditures exceeding the approved contribution to reserve. BPS had requested $1.5M and Police Services Board approved $718,000.

15 out of 18 specialized equipment items were given a priority of 5 out of 5 “Absolutely Required”. The remaining three were given a priority of 4 out of 5.

The following page was presented to council during the budget meeting but missing from the above presentation:

More about municipal police budgets in Ontario.

Timeline

• September 2, 2025 – Police Service Board budget committee reviewed and approved the 2026 Capital Budget Proposal.
• September 18, 2025 – Belleville Police Service Board approved the 2026 Capital Budget in the public meeting that was first presented and approved in the in-camera session totaling $1,194,887.
• November 18, 2025 – Belleville Council reviewed and approved the BPS Capital Budget.