MOOSE JAW — Police Chief Rick Bourassa isn’t seeing anything worrying with expenses in this year’s budget but knows there are unforeseen issues like overtime and retirement bonuses that could happen at any time.
During the Board of Police Commissioners’ November board meeting, Bourassa presented a budget update for the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) with revenues and expenses to Sept. 30.
The report indicated that the police service had received 43.62 per cent of its expected revenues and had spent 77.91 per cent of its budgeted expenses.
Revenues
With revenues, the MJPS had received $22,703 more than budgeted for prisoner cost recovery and $1,521 more for unclaimed seized property sales. However, it had yet to receive $680,028 in funding from the province, nor had it received $250,000 in contractual revenues.
Expenses
With expenses, there were eight categories over budget:
- Subscriptions and publications were over by $3,443
- Computer software was over budget by $7,505
- Insurance was over by $10,026
- Supplies (janitorial) was over budget by $2,623
- Supplies (prisoner meals) was over budget by $703
- Contractual services (cleaning) was over by $1,229
- Telecommunications (radio) was over by $1,717
- Employee benefits were over budget by $5,892
Overall, as of Sept. 30, the police service’s net revenues and expenditures stood at 83.04 per cent of budget.
Chief’s comments
“We don’t see any red flags. We know we’re going to be close because we always are. We budget pretty tight,” Bourassa said after the meeting. “We don’t put a lot of flex into our budgets.”
Overtime has been an issue because of unexpected incidents that required additional officers, there have been retirements that have forced the organization to promote people, and the agency had to hire more employees for its 911 communications centre, he continued.
Overtime has been heavier than the MJPS would like, but it is implementing actions to reduce that where possible, the chief noted.
During the meeting, some commissioners were concerned that the MJPS may have potentially spent three-quarters of its budget even though there were several months left in the year. However, Bourassa said that many expenses — such as equipment reserve contributions and employment insurance — are front-loaded, so the agency pays them at the beginning of its fiscal year.
“And then what happens for us generally later in the year is the revenues come in, so things do tend to balance themselves,” he said. “And they will be coming, but of course, with the provincial election a lot of things slowed down.”
Bourassa added that the province must still pay nearly $800,000 in revenues, which should come toward the end of the year.
Board chairwoman Crystal Froese said the board was confident that the police service would remain within budget until next year — barring any unexpected incidents like having to search for missing people.
When asked why janitorial and cleaning expenses were over budget, Deputy Chief Rick Johns explained that the organization has a full-time maintenance supervisor who handles cleaning during regular hours. However, because the agency operates around the clock, it hires contractor cleaners — who may require extra supplies — to help when the supervisor is on days off or holidays.
Furthermore, due to the collective bargaining agreement, that employee’s holidays and time off grow the longer she works with the police service.
The MJPS has adjusted its 2025 budget to incorporate more money for janitorial services to ensure the building remains clean, which is important since if a prisoner in cells “has an event” at 3 a.m., that needs to be cleaned, Johns added.
“And we’ve had some pretty messy events,” chuckled Bourassa.
The next police board meeting is in early December.
