City hall’s finance department appears to be having trouble managing the Moose Jaw Police Service’s money after it invested some of the agency’s funds without formal approval.
The police service (MJPS) contracts financial service provisions from the City of Moose Jaw, but due to an “oversight” by the municipality’s finance department, the MJPS’s 2020 and 2021 accumulated surpluses were invested into the city’s investment portfolios without permission, Police Chief Rick Bourassa said during the April 19 Board of Police Commissioners meeting.
The interest that the accumulated surplus generated in 2020 was $27,797.76 and in 2021 was $21,239.17 for a total of $49,036.93.
As of Dec. 31, 2021, the balance of the accumulated surplus was $170,275.
Bourassa recommended that the commissioners authorize the City of Moose Jaw to invest the police service’s accumulated surplus funds with the city’s moderate-term portfolio — which RBC Dominion Securities manages — retroactive to Jan. 1, 2020.
“And in future years, that will come as a request to the board each year … ,” he said. “The recommendation, it does earn interest. It does have a net value unless, of course, everything tanks. There’s always that risk, but that has been pretty unlikely, and it’s a moderate risk.”
The board then — without commenting on the error — unanimously approved Bourassa’s recommendation.
This oversight by the city’s finance department with the police service’s money is the second-known error the department has made in the past couple of months.
During the board’s March meeting, Bourassa asked commissioners to approve the inclusion of $159,984 in the carry-forward account of the 2022 equipment reserve budget’s uncompleted works section. The police service plans to use this money to complete its radio replacement project.
The board had approved the police service’s 2022-26 equipment reserve budget during its February meeting, but the police chief noted in March that city hall’s finance department omitted the carry-forward amount in that account. While the police service brought this omission to the department’s attention before the March meeting, the uncompleted works page was not updated, nor was it even provided.
The projects that the police service plans to pursue this year through its equipment reserve budget include a speed board for $10,000, an intoxilyzer for $11,000, analysis software for $10,000, Versaterm Software — a computer-aided dispatch and records management system — for $300,000, a server for $24,000, a patrol vehicle for $80,000, a community policing vehicle for $33,000, and the police radio system for $159,984.
There are also small equipment purchases of $161,191.
The total amount of purchases the police service plans to make this year through its equipment reserve budget is $789,175.
During that March meeting, the board unanimously approved the inclusion of the $159,984 in this year’s carry-forward account line — again without commenting on the oversight.
The next Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting is Thursday, May 19.
