City council navigated two major public safety budgets on Friday, beginning with the Prince Albert Downtown Business Improvement District (PADBID) and followed by a prolonged and confusing debate over the 2026 police service budget. Although the presentations were separate, both pointed to growing pressures downtown and illustrated the difficulties council faced interpreting reserve movements, funding models and long term service planning.
PADBID executive director Rhonda Trusty told council that security teams continue to absorb thousands of incidents that would normally require police involvement.
“Our stats for 2025 for Downtown show security have dealt with over 5500 situations that would normally be directed to Prince Albert Police Services,” she said. She also noted that 6,302 calls were redirected from police in 2024. Using the city’s own figures, she broke down the cost implications. “When you multiply 488.86 x 6302.. that’s a savings of over 3 million dollars,” she told council.
Trusty said the six month security contract is no longer adequate and that PADBID cannot sustain the program without muicipal support.
“This is not sustainable,” she said. “I stand before you to ask for the City of Prince Albert to reassess their view and return to supporting this valuable program.” She asked council to consider reinvesting parking meter revenue into downtown security or matching the district’s levy increase with a forty thousand dollar contribution.
Coun. Dawn Kilmer asked whether PADBID should use its reserves first. Coun. Darren Solomon requested clarity on reserve totals and past commitments. Coun. Troy Parenteau said PADBID’s data showed clear value to businesses. Coun. Blake Edwards said visible security improves comfort for residents and store owners. Coun. Bryce Laewetz questioned whether extending security to a year round service would distribute responses effectively across the week.
Trusty said incidents remain steady during operational months and that businesses, seniors residences, child care centers and post secondary institutions rely on the service. She said extending the program would allow police to focus on higher level criminal concerns while security addresses day to day social issues in the core.
The Police Service Budget
Council then moved to its third public safety budget of the day, the 2026 police service request totaling 22,296,375 dollars. The discussion quickly became complex as councillors sought clarity on reserve transfers, fleet purchasing cycles and the requirements placed on police budgeting through legislation.
Coun. Daniel Brown initiated several amendments that required repeated clarifications. He began by suggesting changes to the motion, stating,
“So I would take everything out after that.” He added, “I am trying to keep it at last year’s number.” As the discussion continued, Brown questioned the reserve structure, saying, “We can’t take money from a reserve that we don’t have.” He later said, “Let me rephrase that motion,” and asked for more explanation on how the reserve was functioning within the proposal.
Police HR and finance manager Angela Dumont provided detailed explanations of how the fleet reserve is replenished monthly and how the service cycles vehicles that operate continuously. She said stable reserves are needed to avoid operational disruptions.
As councillors attempted different amendments, the process became increasingly intricate. Brown questioned the interaction between Part 1 and Part 2 of the motion.
“That is not what I meant,” he said during one exchange.
At one point the Police Chief Patrick Nogier suggested that the proposal might need to be reconsidered elsewhere, saying, “I think this should go back to the Police Commission.”
The discussion reached a turning point when Nogier read aloud from the governing legislation to clarify statutory requirements for police budget preparation. After additional attempts to revise the motion, Nogier told council,
“I’m not comfortable in the direction this is going with respect to the funds.”
The prolonged amendment process caused difficulty for several members. During one exchange, Edwards said,
“We are all confused on what the heck is going on,” reflecting the general tone as councillors worked to keep track of the shifting motions.
Solomon eventually introduced an amendment removing a portion tied to the proactive policing reserve while maintaining operational funding, bringing the request to 22,130,097 dollars. The revision represented a reduction of 166,278 dollars from the original proposal. After further questions on reserve stability and long term planning, council supported the amended amount.
During the discussion, Mayor Bill Powalinsky pointed to upcoming changes tied to the province’s Complex Needs Facility and recent provincial funding for police, EMS and Mobile Crisis.
“There’s a fairly significant drop of funds into the community in the neighbourhood of 3.6 million,” he said. He added that the supports would “take pressure off” frontline officers and that “we are going to see a very positive impact in downtown.”
The PADBID and police budgets, presented consecutively, highlighted growing demands across public safety systems and the difficulty of balancing operational needs with limited financial resources. While council made separate decisions on each, both discussions reflected the broader pressures facing the downtown area and the agencies working within it.
