Toronto police propose $46.2 million budget increase for 2025

The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is asking a 3.9 per cent increase or $46.2 million to its operating budget for next year.

If approved, the 2025 TPS budget will be $1.22 billion.

On Wednesday, Toronto police submitted their operating budget request for 2025, which will be presented to the Toronto Police Service Board (TPSB) next Thursday.

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The budget request includes a five-year hiring plan the TPSB approved three weeks ago, including bringing on 720 officers over the next two years in an effort to boost the "Cop to Pop" ratio, meaning the number of police to 100,000 residents. For 2025, the hiring plan intends to recruit 109 net new officers, after separations, and to enhance its Neighbourhood Community Officer Program into four new neighbourhoods.

"It will bring certainty to our ability to continue to hire police officers to keep our great city safe," TPS Chief Myron Demkiw said in November, after the board announced the multi-year hiring plan.

According to TPS' budget research, which conducted a survey of about 1,500 Torontonian adults not part of any police service from July 29 to Aug. 13 this year, nearly half of respondents expressed concern over the current police response time to urgent priority calls for service. The average response time to urgent calls as of the end of May 2024, TPS notes, is 17.9 minutes – a decrease from 19 minutes in 2022, and 22 minutes in 2023.

As such, TPS plans to recruit 90 operators to handle 9-1-1 communications next year.

If the board approves the budget, it will then be considered by the budget committee, which will present a proposed plan to Mayor Olivia Chow. On February 1, the mayor will release the city’s budget that will be debated in a special council meeting.

Last year, Demkiw and Chow were at odds over the police budget. The TPSB approved a $20 million budget increase, which Chow had tried to cut down to around $8 million.

Demkiw expressed concern that slashing that budget increase would create an "unacceptable risk" to public safety, as well as negatively impact police response time. The Toronto Police Association also launched a series of ads that shone a light on their 22-minute average response time for priority calls.

Chow, after having "many promising conversations" with other levels of government regarding the cost of policing in Toronto, decided to support a motion to grant TPS its full funding increase. 

With files from CP24's Joshua Freeman