Cobourg Police Service Board seeking firm to conduct forensic audit
By reporter Luke Edwards
Officials are waiting to see which firms submit proposals to conduct a forensic audit of Cobourg Police Services financials before moving ahead with the planned review.
With the police services board trying to get its finances under control and in the face of a looming budget overrun, finance manager Anna Jacob provided the update during the Tuesday, Nov. 10 Cobourg Police Service Board meeting.
A request for proposals went out in early November, with firms having three weeks to submit proposals. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 23.
“The objective is to give the board and finance committee a much clearer picture of our underlying operating requirements,” Chief of Police Chris Leather told the board at the meeting. “We need a 2027 budget that is both financially responsible and operationally sustainable.”
The current timeline would see a firm selected and service agreement signed by mid-December.
Jacob’s update suggests the audit would start in January at the earliest, with a draft report delivered in late February.
While the results of that audit are still a few months away, Leather told board members that there has already been plenty of work reviewing financials and reducing cost overruns.
In a separate financial report, Jacob said the newest numbers show a roughly $1.28 million budget variance, which remains nearly unchanged from a summer update. They’re projecting a $1.7-million deficit, though Jacob cautioned that could still go up based on potential costs that are out of their control.
The total 2026 police budget for Cobourg is $13.9 million. Spending through September totaled $11.7 million, the bulk of which went to police administration. Jacob’s report said the year-to-date budget is about $10.4 million leading to the $1.28-million variance.
“It sounds like the financial bleed has more or less stopped at this time,” said Chair Sean Graham, referring to the mostly unchanged budget variance.
Earlier this year, at a special council meeting held in October, a majority of Cobourg council also approved a lengthy motion that made several calls to improve financial accounting and transparency and requested the town’s treasurer work with the board to make improvements in the wake of recent concerns.
Leather said they’re looking at all options to reduce costs – from fleet purchases to overtime allocations.
“I look forward to, in the not-too-distant future, providing a more detailed update to the board,” he said.
Graham pointed to a $261,000 variance that came from an increase to the minimum staffing complement requirements that were negotiated. Member Ron Kerr said the idea behind the increase to platoon levels was to decrease the amount of overtime.
“That obviously has not proven to be the case,” he said.
Jacob said the forensic audit will be a more detailed and rigorous review of the service’s financials, and the winning bidder will be required to provide recommendations. In the meantime, Leather isn’t the only one looking to implement changes.
Graham said he’s interested in developing a benchmarking network, singling out municipalities like Owen Sound and Brockville, which he said are quite similar to Cobourg in terms of population, policing needs and social issues.
Graham also thanked Jacob for her work providing the financial updates.
“I know it takes some courage to work through that stuff so thank you very much,” he told her.
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