MOOSE JAW — The Moose Jaw Police Service is not seeing any “red flags” with its latest budget update but is facing some unexpected financial pressures after more officers than expected retired recently.
The police service (MJPS) presented a budget update to July 31 during the Board of Police Commissioners’ September meeting. The document showed that the agency’s actual net revenues and expenses for the first seven months of the year were $7.9 million, while it had budgeted $12.2 million for 2024, meaning it had gone through 65.3 per cent of its budget.
With revenues, the line item of “unclaimed seized property” had actual revenues of $2,072 compared to the budgeted $1,000. Therefore, it was 207.2-per-cent over budget.
Meanwhile, seven expense categories were over budget:
- Subscriptions and publications: Exceeded budget by $2,318, or 192.72 per cent over
- Computer software: Exceeded the budget by $4,853, or 106.22 per cent over
- Insurance: Exceeded the budget by $10,026, or 113.73 per cent over
- Janitorial supplies: Exceeded the budget by $1,561, or 119.51 per cent over
- Cleaning contractual services: Exceeded the budget by $244, or 108.13 per cent over
- Radio telecommunications: Exceeded the budget by $1,717, or 114.31 per cent over
- Employee benefits: Exceeded the budget by $1,874, or 126.77 over
“We are tracking OK, although there are some pressure points facing us,” Police Chief Rick Bourassa told the board.
One unanticipated pressure is that more officers than expected retired recently, which meant the agency had to pay them as per the collective bargaining agreement, he continued. Specifically, the police service budgeted for two officers to retire this year, but two more ended up giving their notice.
Meanwhile, the MJPS executive is not currently seeing any red flags in other budget categories, the chief said. Usually, many expenses are front-loaded, which means the agency pays for those areas early in the year.
Conversely, most revenue is backloaded, so it receives that money toward the end of the year. For example, revenue from the province currently sits at $119,972, while the budget for this year is $800,000.
As for how the organization handles its yearly cash flow when provincial funding comes late in the year, the board learned that city hall’s finance department looks after the overall budget and knows that that money will eventually arrive. However, if it doesn’t arrive by year’s end, the organization turns that into an accrual and applies it when the funding does come.
Bourassa added that the insurance expense line is higher than normal because of pieces like cyber security, vehicles and the agency’s overarching insurance policy with the City of Moose Jaw.
