Calgary police blame drop in photo radar fines for $28M revenue shortfall
The Calgary Police Service’s operating budget is facing a $28-million revenue shortfall after a decrease in photo radar fines, according to its chief constable.
Following a series of changes to photo radar regulations at the provincial level — such as limiting where officers can deploy, mandating highly visible markings on enforcement vehicles — CPS Chief Mark Neufeld says automated enforcement ticket revenues have declined.
“We’ve seen increased costs for things like fuel, utilities, vehicles, parts, labour, insurance, plus a weakened Canadian dollar. All of these were issues that we were experiencing and that we were monitoring throughout 2024 and things that impacted our budget,” Neufeld told reporters during a news conference Friday.
“Simultaneously, the photo radar program has been under review at the provincial level. This culminated in a significant policy decision in December regarding the direction of that program going forward. In mid-January, we received a report that identified the anticipated financial impact of approximately $28 million to our operating budget in 2025 and each year thereafter.”
According to Neufeld, 85 per cent of the CPS budget is dedicated to staffing costs, such as salaries and benefits.
Neufeld said that after receiving the January report, CPS began examining strategies to reduce operating expenses to not go over budget, which required “internal discussions” with employees.
He says the budget shortfall will have impacts on the organization during a time when demands for police services are at an all-time high.
“Over the last number of years, with all of the protests and demonstrations and additional requests for police, and given the fact that we’ve had staffing issues, we’ve in effect lived on a credit card,” he said.
“So we have called members in on overtime to cover some of the challenges and we’ve balanced that off against vacancy dollars. So now, clearly, we’re not going to be able to do that going forward.”
However, the police chief says they’re looking to cut costs internally before resorting to cutting staffing.
“It’s not as though there’s a bunch of fat to cut. We’re cutting muscle,” he said.
Alberta government responds
In December, the provincial government announced its plans to slash the number of photo radar sites in Alberta by 70 per cent, with Alberta’s Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen calling photo radar measures a “cash cow.”
In response to Friday’s CPS news conference, Dreeshen said he still believes photo radar shouldn’t be a tool for balancing municipal police budgets.
“Photo radar was never supposed to be about revenue generation,” Dreeshen told CBC News on Friday.
“It was never supposed to be the main source of funding for policing in Edmonton and Calgary, or any municipality in the province. Photo radar and the revenue from it was always supposed to be about traffic safety.”
Dreeshen said municipalities shouldn’t want to “base any policing budget off of a perfect photo radar system because the revenue that it generates should be zero,” considering photo radar fines are designed to change driver behaviour.
As part of the province’s changes to photo radar, come April 1, photo radar sites on all provincial highways will be banned, except for those in school, playground and construction zones.
“I think Albertans should be confident knowing — going forward — if you do get a photo radar ticket in the mail, it’s in an area that you obviously shouldn’t have been speeding in,” he said.
The minister added that any funding shortfall for CPS is something that should be addressed through city council.
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