The Corman Park Police Service (CPPS) will see an increase of $577,003 in its overall budget in the coming year.
Corman Park councillors voted to approve the 2021 CPPS budget at a meeting on Monday, December 21.
The police budget was then included in the overall municipal budget, which was also approved by council at that meeting.
The police budget for the coming year has a projected revenue of $695,130. The revenue is generated from fines.
It also has overall capital and operating expenses for the year coming in at $1,820,649.
Last year the CPPS budget contained projected revenues of $1.298,970 and overall expenses of $1,847,486. However, the actual revenues in 2020 fell short of budget projections.
The 2021 police budget was the second proposal brought forward to council by the Corman Park Police Commission. An earlier proposed budget tabled at a council meeting on November 18 was rejected by councillors.
At the November 18 meeting, the police commission was instructed to trim expenses. The revised budget came back to council on December 21 a total of $84,986 lighter on the expenditure side. A proposal in the original budget for a new Records Management System for the police service was removed from the revised budget, accounting for the bulk of the savings.
In a presentation to the December 21 Corman Park Council meeting, CPPS Chief Warren Gherasim said the 2021 police budget expects revenues from fines to be much lower than was originally anticipated in the 2020 police budget. Last year’s budget estimated that revenues from fines would amount to almost $1.3 million. This year’s projection is closer to $695,000.
“The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the amount of revenues from fines,” said Gherasim in his report to council. “There were reduced traffic counts, fewer traffic offenses, and theh subsequent revenue generated from fines was also down.
“I expect we will still be in the pandemic for a good part of 2021, and so we can expect to see reduced traffic as reduced revenue as a result.”
Corman Park Division 5 councillor Art Pruim asked Gherasim if the police commission has trimmed operating and capital expenses for the service.
“Have you sharpened your pencil as much as possible?” asked Pruim. “We’re looking at almost $600,000 more to come out of tax revenue to pay for the increase.”
Gherasim’s answered in the affirmative.
“Yes,” he said. “The budget is as lean as it can be.”
Gherasim noted the CPPS provides 24-hour police protection across the municipality and works in close cooperation with other police services including both the Saskatoon and Warman RCMP detachments, Saskatoon City Police and Dalmeny Police Service.