The Moose Jaw Police Service will ask city council for a 10.26-per-cent net operating budget increase for 2024, which — if approved — could translate into a 3.38-per-cent mill rate hike for taxpayers.
The police service (MJPS) presented its proposed 2024 operating budget during the Nov. 9 meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners.
The agency projects expenses to be $14,604,410 and revenues to be $1,913,507, leaving a net operating budget of $12,690,093 that the City of Moose Jaw would cover. Compared to this year, next year’s numbers represent an increase of, respectively, $1,216,355 (9.09 per cent), $35,000 (1.86 per cent) and $1,181,355 (10.26 per cent).
The largest expense increases are projected to be in salaries ($291,406), employee benefits ($372,722), computer software ($445,000), fuel supplies ($117,000), pension ($50,307), equipment reserve contributions ($49,227) and insurance ($43,000).
Historically, the police service’s budget has comprised roughly one-quarter — or 23 per cent — of the city’s overall budget.
City hall has projected that one percentage point of taxation next year could be worth $349,000, which means the police service’s request could add 3.38 percentage points to the overall municipal tax hike.
Police Chief Rick Bourassa told the board that this budget does not ask for new officers. Instead, the agency plans to ask the province for funding to add another investigator on the Internet and Child Exploitation (ICE) team and another member to the serious crimes division that handles gangs, guns and drugs.
Meanwhile, the three largest expense increases occur in technology, employee benefits and inflation-related supplies — namely fuel, he continued. In particular, the organization is seeing “fairly significant increases” in inflation-related costs just to maintain its budget.
Furthermore, staff benefits are higher next year because the MJPS has a group of relatively new officers — many have joined within the past five years — and the salary grid increases quickly in the first few years, Bourassa added.
Deputy Chief Rick Johns explained that roughly $500,000 of the expense increases will support new in-car reporting technology, computer-assisted dispatch software, electronic ticketing software and part of the salary for the new public information and strategic communications manager.
Most of these expenses are one-time start-up costs, although there will be annual licensing fees for the software.
The in-car reporting software will keep officers in the community when writing reports instead of forcing them to spend 25 per cent of their shift at headquarters, said Johns.
This new software will free up 2,190 hours of officers’ time, which should lead to increased community interaction and visibility, reduced response times, enhanced investigative capacity and more effective and efficient policing.
The computer-assisted dispatch (CAD) program should increase the speed and content of information officers require when responding to calls and reduce the time they spend entering reports.
Johns noted that MJPS is one of the last — if not the last — policing agencies to use the current CAD program, as other organizations have moved to a full CAD system.
New e-ticketing software — hopefully with financial support from SGI — will help reduce the time police spend at each incident and increase their time maintaining traffic safety and managing relevant records, he continued.
Police currently write out tickets by hand, whereas the new software will let them scan a motorist’s licence and complete the ticket quickly.
The MJPS is also looking into body-worn cameras and is waiting for pilot programs to finish in other Saskatchewan municipalities so it can review the data, said Johns.
The agency has already upgraded its radio systems and broadcasting tower, which can contribute to officers’ safety by using GPS to locate them when they call in, he added. Furthermore, other technology improvements have provided the agency with better cyber security protection.
The Moose Jaw Express will soon publish other stories related to the MJPS’s 2024 operating budget.
