The police budget

Averaged out, the requests grew 4.2% per year from 2011 to 2026, and 6.5% per year over the last five years (2021–2026) — compound annual growth rates between the endpoints, so single-year swings do not move them. The figures are nominal dollars: no adjustment for inflation or for the city's population growth over the same years.

• ¹ Net of the $20,116 development-charge offset the book lists as a separate revenue line (gross request $42,057,088) — the pre-2015 books print no per-partner net row. The 2012 book records the 2011 approved budget as $41,657,088 gross, $400,116 under this ask. The 2013 book records the 2011 ACTUAL as $41,686,401 gross. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ² Net of the $10,058 development-charge offset (gross request $43,593,774); the police board's covering letter states the same net figure. The 2013 book records the 2012 approved budget as $43,353,774 gross — about $230,000 under this ask. The 2014 book records the 2012 ACTUAL as $43,362,036 gross. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ³ Net of the $10,360 development-charge offset (gross request $44,892,387). Approved as requested, per the 2014 book's comparator column; the 2015 book records the 2013 ACTUAL as $44,892,387 — identical. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ⁴ Net of the $70,400 development-charge offset (gross request $46,092,000). The 2015 book records the 2014 approved budget as $46,303,600 net — $281,900 ABOVE this ask — and the 2016 book records the 2014 ACTUAL as $46,374,000. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ⁵ The book's own Tax Impact row (gross request $47,489,484 less the $70,400 development-charge offset). Approved as requested, per the 2016 book's comparator column; the 2017 book records the 2015 ACTUAL as $47,419,084 tax funded — identical. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ⁶ The 2016 book's "Tax Impact" request row (gross request $49,113,297 less development charges). The 2017 book records the 2016 approved budget as $48,814,251. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ⁷ The 2018 book records the 2017 approved budget as $50,275,113 — $100,000 under the request. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ⁸ Approved as requested, per the 2019 book's comparator column. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ⁹ The 2020 book records the 2019 approved budget as $53,329,646 — $70,129 above the request. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ¹⁰ The 2021 book records the 2020 approved budget as $55,811,858 — $255,000 under the request. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ¹¹ First year sourced from the service's own budget deck rather than the City's budget book; the book's request column shows the same figure. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ¹² The 2026 Service Partners book's "2024 Actuals" column shows the 2024 actual tax-funded amount as $67,523,320 — identical to this request. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ¹³ The deck states this request excludes additional revenue from assessment growth; the City's 2026 budget book records the 2025 approved budget as $72,240,720. The service's 2025 annual report puts the 2025 actual at $73,216,007 against that budget — $975,286 over, driven by salaries and benefits. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.
• ¹⁴ From the City's Service Partners book rather than a police budget deck: the 2026 requested budget, tax funded, an increase of $6,163,685 (8.53%) over the 2025 approved $72,240,720. Figures on either side of this point are not directly comparable.

Sources: Service Partners (2011 Business Plan), City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Real text layer. Its Base Budget Change Report carries 2009 ACTUAL expenditures — the oldest actuals recoverable; no 2009 or 2010 book survives on the Wayback Machine. The gross request rows carry the development-charge offsets as separate revenue lines, unlike the 2015+ books' printed Tax Impact rows. Retrieved August 18, 2026. Service Partners (2012 Business Plan, §10), City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Scanned Xerox PDF, no text layer; the extracted file is OCR and every published digit was verified against the page image. Carries 2010 actuals. The police board's covering letter states the net 2012 request ($43,583,716) — the table's gross minus the DC offset, corroborating both figures. Retrieved August 18, 2026. Service Partners & Grants (2013 Business Plan, §g), City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Scanned Xerox PDF, no text layer; the extracted file is OCR and every published digit was verified against the page image. Carries 2011 actuals. Retrieved August 18, 2026. Service Partners (2014 Business Plan, §5), City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Scanned Xerox PDF, no text layer; the extracted file is OCR and every published digit was verified against the page image. Carries 2012 actuals. Retrieved August 18, 2026. Budget and Financial Overview — Tax Rate (2015 budget), City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Real text layer. The first year whose book prints a per-partner net Tax Impact table beside the gross one. Carries 2013 actuals. Retrieved August 18, 2026. 2016 Business Plan — Executive Summary, City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Requested/recommended budget, not approved. "TOTAL RECOMMENDED TAX OPERATING BUDGET" net figure (PDF p27) includes Service Partners for this and every year through 2023 -- unlike the 2024 book onward, where the same-named row excludes them. The site therefore never charts this printed total directly: the city-operations figure for 2016-2023 is the total minus the same table's Service Partners & Grants section net, so the partner lines are not counted twice. Retrieved August 18, 2026. Executive Summary (2017 budget), City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Requested/recommended budget. Its comparator column carries the 2016 APPROVED Service Partner amounts. Retrieved August 18, 2026. Executive Summary (2018 budget), City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Requested/recommended budget. Its comparator column carries the 2017 APPROVED Service Partner amounts. Retrieved August 18, 2026. Budget and Financial Overview (2019 budget), City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Requested/recommended budget. Its comparator column carries the 2018 APPROVED Service Partner amounts. The Divisional Tax Operating subtotal is printed as a blank header band in this book -- no 2019 divisional requested figure exists. Retrieved August 18, 2026. Budget and Financial Overview (2020 budget), City of Barrie. The publisher's own copy is gone; this links to the Internet Archive. Requested/recommended budget. Its County-of-Simcoe partner detail table is a stale, character-for-character duplicate of the 2019 book's own (including a shared "$1,923,00" typo) -- the 2019 APPROVED County Total - Tax Funded figure that would otherwise be sourced from that table is not published here as a result. Its SUMMARY table is not stale and does print a 2019-approved County net of $18,473,000, but on the narrower basis that excludes the County Capital Reserve contribution, so it does not fill the gap on the site's Total - Tax Funded basis; the 2019 county row instead uses the 2021 book's "2019 Actuals" column. This book's comparator column otherwise carries the 2019 APPROVED Service Partner amounts. Retrieved August 18, 2026. Barrie Police Service 2021 Budget Summary, Barrie Police Service. Original document. Municipal funding required $57,292,783, a 2.65% increase over the 2020 $55,811,857. Retrieved August 9, 2026. Barrie Police Service 2022 Budget (summary, dated 2021-10-08), Barrie Police Service, dated October 8, 2021. Original document. Municipal funding required $58,945,250, a 2.88% increase over the 2021 $57,292,783. Retrieved August 9, 2026. Barrie Police Service 2023 Budget (presented to City of Barrie Council, February 1, 2023), Barrie Police Service, dated February 1, 2023. Original document. Municipal funding required $63,238,813 — operating $57,619,268, transfer to capital reserve $1,882,107, legislative impacts $3,737,438 — "a 7.28% increase over 2022". Retrieved August 9, 2026. Barrie Police Service 2024 Budget (for Open Board Meeting, October 19, 2023), Barrie Police Service, dated October 19, 2023. Original document. Total 2024 budget request $67,523,320 (6.90%): non-discretionary 7.27%, discretionary −0.37%; growth-adjusted 4.79%. Retrieved August 9, 2026. Barrie Police Service 2025 Budget (for Board Meeting, September 12, 2024), Barrie Police Service, dated September 12, 2024. Original document. Total 2025 budget request $71,430,985, a 5.79% increase; the deck notes the request does not include additional revenue from assessment growth. Retrieved August 9, 2026. Service Partners Budget and Financial Overview 2026, City of Barrie. Original document. Covers the Barrie Police Service, County of Simcoe, library and other partner budgets as presented to the City. Retrieved August 9, 2026.

The 2026 request, as the service itself breaks it down

The board presentation of October 16, 2025 decomposes the 2026 ask: 4.43% for "Foundational Policing" and 1.45% for a "Growing and Changing Community" make a 5.88% base, and a recommended growth plan of six sworn officers and four civilians adds 1.34% — a request the deck totals at 7.22%, with "Provincial Impacts" of 2.65% shown as a separate line. The City's budget book records the same request as an 8.53% increase over the 2025 approved budget. The two percentages sit on bases the documents do not state, so this page reports both and reconciles neither.

Sources: Barrie Police Service 2026 Budget — Presentation for Board, October 16, 2025, Barrie Police Service, dated October 16, 2025. Original document. Slide deck; thin text layer, transcribed visually 2026-08-09. The 2026 consolidation slide: Foundational Policing 4.43% + Growing and Changing Community 1.45% = base budget 5.88%; Recommended Growth Plan (6 sworn / 4 civilian) 1.34%; "Barrie Police Budget Request 7.22%"; Provincial Impacts 2.65% shown as a separate line. Note the deck's 7.22% differs from the 8.53% the City's Service Partners book records for the same request — the bases are not stated, so do not reconcile them by arithmetic; state each with its source. Also carries sworn strength (250 in 2023–2025, plan to 280 by 2030) and the service's own population projections. Service Partners Budget and Financial Overview 2026, City of Barrie. Original document. Covers the Barrie Police Service, County of Simcoe, library and other partner budgets as presented to the City. All retrieved August 9, 2026.

What council can — and cannot — do about it

This is the most misstated fact in every Barrie police-budget argument, in both directions. The Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019 settles it, in section 50:

• The police service board submits operating and capital estimates to the City (s. 50(2)).
• Council sets the board's overall budget, and is not bound to adopt the board's estimates (s. 50(4)). Council can approve less than the ask.
• Council has no authority to approve or disapprove specific items in those estimates (s. 50(5)). There is no line-by-line veto.
• If the board believes the budget Council set is insufficient for adequate and effective policing, it can force conciliation and then binding arbitration, and the City must amend the budget to match the arbitrator's decision (s. 50(6)–(12)).

So a candidate who says council simply controls the police budget is overstating it, and a candidate who says council can do nothing is understating it: council's lever is the total, and behind every total is the possibility of arbitration.

Source: Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019, S.O. 2019, c. 1, Sched. 1, Government of Ontario — e-Laws. Original document. Section 50 is the jurisdiction answer for /issues/safety-policing/: council sets the board's OVERALL budget and is not bound to adopt the board's estimates (s. 50(4)), but has no authority to approve or disapprove specific items (s. 50(5)); if the board finds the budget insufficient it can take the municipality to conciliation and binding arbitration (s. 50(6)–(12)). The extraction is s. 50 verbatim; the statute is HTML-only on e-Laws, so it was taken from the rendered page, not fetch-source.sh. Grouped under budget because that is the question it is here to answer. Retrieved August 9, 2026.

The police line sits inside the wider property-tax budget: see where your property taxes go.