The Toronto Police Service wants to see a nearly $100 million boost in its operating budget next year to help pay for new hires and collectively bargained pay increases.
In a document that will be presented to the board’s budget committee on Dec. 8, the police service said the proposed increase represents a seven per cent bump over the 2025 budget. The police service’s request would push its total net operating budget to a little over $1.4 billion. Salaries make up about 90 per cent of the service’s operating budget.
“Key aspects influencing this budget request are the impacts from collective bargaining, the cost of employee benefits and the continuation of the multi-year hiring plan – which will help get more officers in communities, responding to emergencies faster, and increasing our investigative capacity to close cases and giving closure to victims of crime and making Toronto safer,” Toronto police said in a news release issued this week.
143 net new officers in 2026
Toronto police want to add 143 net new officers to the service in 2026. According to the budget, 70 positions would be allocated to priority response, 40 positions would be added to boost investigative capacity, 17 positions would be allocated for recruitment and training capacity, and additional officers would be used to support the ongoing expansion of the neighbourhood community officer (NCO) program. The new hires are expected to cost $20.5 million in 2026. TPS intends to hire 40 new civilian positions that will provide support to frontline officers.
The move is part of its larger plan to hire more officers to offset the significant rise in anticipated retirements in the coming years.
Over the course of five years, the police service wants to hire a total of 502 net new officers, increasing the number of officers from 5,433 in 2024 to 5,935 by 2029.
If approved, the request will be reviewed by the City of Toronto’s budget committee in the New Year.
