The Surrey Police Service's senior manager of finance told a Surrey Police Board meeting on July 31 that the total grant amount the SPS has received to date from the provincial government is $4.2 million.
"We tracked the use of the grant on our own financial accounting systems that's separate from the City," Nathan Wong said.
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke later explained to the Now-Leader that the $4.2 million stemmed from the City telling the SPS last December to stop hiring, and also not providing it with access to the City's human resources management platform. "We said stop hiring, we need to get our head around what's going on financially. So the Province said no, go ahead – that's that money. The $4.2 million is the money the B.C. government provided directly to the Surrey Police Service to hire staff," Locke said.
Meantime, Wong provided the board with a one-time policing transition fund summary as of June 30 that has year-to-date actual expenses for 2024 at $2,106,384 when the projected fund use for this year is $15,354,815.
"So our 2024 provisional budget of $142 million is used as the reference to compare our budget versus actual. City council approved $222 million this year for police service, that amount needs to be split between the RCMP contract and SPS operations. We don't have an exact allocation but our provisional budget is within that $222 million amount."
Wong said that at the end of June the SPS's year-to-date expenditures were roughly $44 million, "about 31 per cent utilization of our provisional budget at the half-year mark. Our monthly expenses are about $7.3 million per month; our largest area of costs to date has been in salary and benefits, at $38 million which is about 93 per cent of our regular operating costs.
"For the first half of the year we've been a bit lean on our capital and other expenditures," he said, "but now that we have our POJ (police of jurisdiction) date we have started ordering those equipment and inventory items we need for Nov. 29. We should see those bills come in gradually throughout the coming months so we do expect our expenditure trend to go up a bit but everything is still anticipated to be within the provisional budget – we do not foresee any overspending at all, so far."
Chief Constable Norm Lipinski welcomed Wong's report. "We're tracking very well towards the end of the year to have a surplus," he said.
Board Administrator Mike Serr also weighed in. "I do know that we anticipate coming in quite a bit under budget this year," Serr said. "I do know that right now we're at six months, 31 per cent of the overall spend, but that's going to go up quite significantly but still under budget just as the hiring chief I know is going to continue to ramp up and increase, which is a very good thing and to have all the capital equipment required for that influx of people. That's all positive."
Locke on July 22 expressed concern to the Now-Leader that Surrey taxpayers could potentially be on the hook for half a billion dollars related to Surrey Police Service replacing the Surrey RCMP as the city's police of jurisdiction if costs surpass the up-to $250 million the provincial NDP government has earmarked under an agreement struck earlier this month.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth revealed on July 10 an agreement between the provincial government and the City of Surrey that his government will provide up to $250 million over 10 years. This agreement was struck after the City lost a judicial review in B.C. Supreme Court in May where Justice Kevin Loo ruled in favour of the transition continuing.
The Surrey Police Board's next meeting is set for Sept. 18.
Wong's SPS budget summary for 2024 – provisional budget – has salaries and benefits at $102,761,570 with other expenditures at $16,758,285 for a total of $119,519,855 in SPS operations. Added to that is $6,636,383 in equipment/capital expenditures and $15,354,815 related to the policing transition project fund for a total $141,511,053 in expenditures.
