The New Westminster Police Department is currently under budget – but that’s expected to change by the end of the year.
At its September meeting, the police board received a Q2 financial report and 2024 forecast. The report detailed the NWPD expenditures in various categories, including line items related to salaries and benefits, contracts and services, education and training, general office, general administration, operational equipment, and other costs.
“As of June 30, 2024, the police department is currently under budget by $1,271,000. However. This favourable budget variance is expected to decrease throughout the year, with projections indicating the department will be over budget by $328K by year-end,” said a staff report. “It is important to note that a $245K variance has been approved by the police board and city council in relation to the recent collective bargaining agreement with the New Westminster Police Officers Association, resulting in a net projected budget deficit of $83K.”
Police board chair Tasha Henderson said it may be helpful for the community to know what happens if the NWPD is over budget at year-end.
If the police department exceeds its budget at year-end, those funds would come out of city reserves, said Jacqueline Dairon, the police department’s finance manager.
“We try to keep the city as up to date as possible on where we are,” she said.
Dairon said that the department has some idea of where its budget is going at the end of the second quarter of the year, but it will be better understanding of where the budget will land in the third quarter of the year.
Documents presented to the police board show that the NWPD’s 2024 budget provided for operating expenditures of $40 million. After receiving about $8 million in revenues from sale of services, grants etc., the net expenditure from city coffers is forecast to be $31.8 million.
As is always the case, salaries and benefits are the largest component of the police department’s budget. As of June 30, the police department had spent $15.8 million on salaries and benefits – including police, clerical and auxiliary salaries, overtime and benefits.
In addition to expenditures, the report shows revenues, including the sale of services (i.e. city special events), grants from other governments, and other revenues (including false alarm fines and auction proceeds).
Board member Kelsi Wall questioned finance staff about the line item for legal fees, which are part of the “general administration” section of the report.
Dairon said the NWPD increased its budget provisions for legal fees last year.
“We kind of did a five-year average of where we have been spending,” she said. “Unfortunately, the last couple of years have been much higher than previous times. … We hope it is something that will come down.”
The report showed the NWPD had budgeted $100,000 for legal fees in 2024, and those fees totaled $120,558 as of June 30. The department estimates spending an additional $139,501 by year-end, bringing the total to $260,059 for legal fees.
Acting Chief Const Paul Hyland said the NWPD provides its best guess about legal fees based on a three- to five-year average.
“These are unpredictable because we don’t know what’s coming down the pike,” he told the board at its September meeting.
