RESEARCH / SAFETY & PUBLIC SPENDING

$144 Million More for Police. Why Did Tedjo Back It?

On January 23, 2025, nine of Mississauga’s 12 members of Peel Regional Council voted against a regional budget carrying a $144 million, 23.3 per cent increase for Peel Regional Police. Alvin Tedjo voted for it. The City says Mississauga taxpayers fund approximately 62 per cent of the police budget.

Mississauga Accountability and Transparency Coalition · Published 2026-10-20

Mississauga’s 12 votes on the 2025 Region of Peel budget, January 23, 2025: nine against and three in favour, including Alvin Tedjo. The budget included a 23.3 per cent increase for Peel Regional Police. Sources: Region of Peel council minutes and budget documents; City of Mississauga. Graphic supplied by the Mississauga Accountability and Transparency Coalition.

Under review

On January 23, 2025, Peel Regional Council approved the Region’s 2025 budget by a vote of 15 to 9. It carried a 23.3 per cent increase for Peel Regional Police, about $144 million in a single year. A failed motion from Mayor Carolyn Parrish and Councillor Brad Butt described it as the largest police-budget increase in the history of the Region of Peel. The vote approved the whole regional budget, not the police line alone. (Region of Peel minutes)

All nine votes against came from Mississauga. Ward 2 Councillor Alvin Tedjo, now running for mayor, was one of three Mississauga members who voted in favour, alongside Councillors Martin Reid and Sue McFadden and every member from Brampton and Caledon.

How the members voted

• Mississauga, 12 members: three in favour, including Tedjo, Reid and McFadden; nine against.
• Brampton, nine members: nine in favour; none against.
• Caledon, three members: three in favour; none against.
• Total: 15 in favour; nine against.

Caledon is policed by the OPP. The Region’s budget documents say Peel Regional Police serves Brampton and Mississauga, and OPP costs fall only on Caledon taxpayers. Caledon’s three members also voted yes on the regional budget, whose Peel Regional Police costs are apportioned to Mississauga and Brampton. (Region of Peel budget, sections 3-30 and 3-32)

Three chances to slow it down

Send it back. On November 28, 2024, council voted 12 to 11 to ask Peel police to review and reconsider the $144.1 million request with the goal of reducing the tax impact. Tedjo was away on other municipal business; his proxy, Councillor Joe Horneck, voted yes on his behalf. By January, the request still stood at 23.3 per cent. (November 28 minutes, RCB-2024-34)

Wait three weeks. On January 23, Councillors Dipika Damerla and Matt Mahoney moved to defer the police-budget motion to February 13. It failed 10 to 14. Tedjo voted no.

Cap it at 18 per cent. Parrish and Butt moved to limit the increase to 18 per cent. It failed nine to 15. All nine votes for the cap came from Mississauga. Tedjo voted no. Members also discussed the police board’s options under provincial law if council set a budget the board considered insufficient. Parrish and Damerla, who led the cap and delay motions, are now running against Tedjo for mayor. (January 23 minutes, RCB-2025-20 and RCB-2025-21)

By our calculation, an 18 per cent cap would have trimmed about $33 million from the increase. Using the rounded figures in the police business plan, that is approximately 5.3 percentage points of the $617.7 million 2024 base.

Tedjo did move to defer the police service’s two per cent infrastructure levy for one year, seconded by Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown. That levy, about $12.4 million, accounts for the difference between the 21.3 per cent operating increase and the 23.3 per cent total increase. He withdrew the motion after Brampton Councillor Gurpartap Singh Toor and Caledon Councillor Christina Early asked for a separate vote. He then voted for the regional budget. (January 23 minutes)

Who pays

Peel police costs are split between Mississauga and Brampton by weighted property assessment, not population. The City of Mississauga says that puts approximately 62 per cent of the police budget on Mississauga and 38 per cent on Brampton, although the population split is much closer to even. The City argues Mississauga taxpayers pay much more than their fair share. (City of Mississauga)

Using that approximate share, Mississauga’s portion of the 2025 increase comes to about $89 million, by our calculation. The City estimated the increase alone would cost the owner of a home assessed at $730,000 more than $400 in 2025. That example uses assessed value, not market price.

The higher funding level continued into the next budget year. Peel police’s 2026 net operating budget of $837.3 million represents a further 9.9 per cent increase over 2025. Future budgets remain subject to annual decisions. (Peel Regional Police)

What Tedjo is promising now

Tedjo is campaigning on a two-year freeze of the City of Mississauga’s share of residential property taxes. Peel police is funded through the Region of Peel’s share of the tax bill, so a freeze limited to the City portion would not freeze regional police costs. (Tedjo campaign; City of Mississauga)

According to Bramptonist, he has called for a fairer way to fund Peel police and a review of the current system. The Peel Regional Police Association endorsed him on September 21, 2026. The association’s president, Adrian Woolley, spoke in favour of the proposed 2025 police budget at the January meeting. (Bramptonist; January 23 minutes, item 6.4)

At the first mayoral debate in September, The Pointer reported that he said he would look at hiring upwards of 300 new frontline officers. (The Pointer)

The rest of the record

Tedjo has also sought to limit the immediate tax impact of police funding. In December 2025, he moved a motion, seconded by Parrish, to forgo the $12.4 million Community Safety Levy for police facilities in 2026 and fund required expenditures from existing reserves instead. It carried. The levy would have added the equivalent of 1.6 percentage points to the police-budget increase, bringing it to 11.5 per cent rather than 9.9 per cent. The motion changed how facilities would be funded; using reserves still draws on public funds. (December 11 minutes, RCB-2025-94)

That month, he also voted with every other Mississauga member to reduce the Region’s infrastructure levy by 0.5 percentage points. That motion carried 13 to 11. (December 11 minutes, RCB-2025-97)

Our view

Councillors can change course, and Tedjo’s later motions show efforts to limit the immediate tax impact. But he supported the January 2025 regional budget and opposed the motions to cap or delay the police increase. The approved budget raised the funding baseline, and the 2026 budget increased it again. Voters deciding on October 26 deserve a clear account of how those decisions fit with his current promises.

Questions for Alvin Tedjo

• Why did you vote against an 18 per cent cap, and against a three-week delay, on the 2025 police increase?
• Your proposed freeze covers the City’s share of the tax bill. What would you do about police costs set at the Region?
• You have called for a fairer police funding formula. What formula would you propose, and by when?
• Would you support a cap on future Peel police increases? At what level?

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