City council unanimously passed the Ottawa Police Service's 2009 request of $218 million on Friday as part of its continued budget debate.
The police lowered their final request by $2.7 million because of increased provincial funding, falling fuel costs, and other assorted savings and deferrals.
Ottawa households can expect to pay an extra $18 per year in property taxes to meet policing needs.
Council also approved $34 million for the Ottawa Public Library. Barbara Clubb, the city's chief librarian, said the funding will allow staff to keep up with demand during tough economic times.
"During a recession, during difficult economic times in a country, specifically in this case Canada and the U.S., a library gets more use than usual," Clubb said.
Ottawa's elected officials must now decide whether to proceed with controversial plans to cut funding for daycare, arts, and recreation in an attempt to balance the books.
Councillor Rick Chiarelli believes there are alternatives to the chooping block.
"We could preserve some of the arts, outdoor hockey rinks, defer or cancel capital projects, (and) road-related projects where we already voted money towards them or approved money for it," he said.
Meanwhile, Bay Councillor Alex Cullen was livid that a report by private consultant Bob Plamondon went to some, but not all council members.
"What I have here is a situation where someone is basically used as a private consultant to advance the agenda of some members of council, yet he is being paid by taxpayers to help all of us," Cullen said.
Plamondon was hired by city manager Kent Kirkpatrick to assist with the 2009 budget. Cullen said he first learned of the recommendations on Friday afternoon.
Budget deliberations continue on Monday.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Vanessa Lee
