The police board has asked the chief to try again. Board members are not accepting his request for a 2.3 per cent budget increase for 2013.

Instead, the board has asked chief Bill Blair to come back next month with a new budget, one that reaches their target of no increase next year.

At a meeting Wednesday, the board asked the chief to consider measures including a recruitment freeze next year, outsourcing some operations like crossing guards and court security, and reducing the number of hours some police stations are open.

Councillors Frances Nunziata and Michael Thompson, who sit on the board, both say they do not want to layoff frontline officers. They say the savings can be found in other ways.

"It can't be done," Chief Blair says.

He stands by his earlier comments that the only way for him to meet the board's budget target is through layoffs.

"People can have different opinions on things, and they're certainly entitled to have different opinions but it doesn't change math," Blair says.