Moose Jaw Police Chief Rick Bourassa says its 2022 operating budget is on schedule, but there are a couple of items that are putting pressure on the police service financially. 

Over $181,000 has been spent on vehicle maintenance so far this year, of the $220,000 that has been budgeted. 

Bourassa said it isn’t a unique challenge to just Moose Jaw. The police service is spending extra money keeping vehicles past their lifespan on the road while waiting for new vehicles to come in. The new vehicles ordered have been delayed due to supply chain issues. 

“Once the new vehicles come in, then well those expenses will even out again. Of course, fuel has been an issue as well and we all know that. It's come down a bit so the pressure won't be quite as heavy,” Bourassa said. 

The other budgetary pressure that Bourassa noted was with computer software. The police service has so far spent over $241,000 of the budgeted $290,000 on software upgrades.  

Bourassa said it is normal maintenance costs for fees as they are required to run more and more computer programs and systems. In the future, he feels that it will remain an expense to keep those systems running. 

There are funds in the equipment reserve to upgrade computer equipment and hardware, but Bourassa said these expenses are simply for software. 

Overall, for expenses, the police service has spent $8.1 million of the $12.7 million that has been budgeted for the year. 

For revenue, Bourassa said it looks bleak now, but the police service still has more provincial funding coming for items such as provincially-fund police positions. 

“These are never smooth. They will be zero, then there’ll be a huge increase in revenues when those arrive to us,” Bourassa said. 

The police service has taken in $451,000 of the $1.6 million budgeted.