Virus squeezes police revenue

Edmonton police have seen a drop in revenue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Chief Dale Mcfee says he isn’t worried — for now.

The Edmonton Police Commission met by teleconference Thursday, the first time since the start of the pandemic.

According to a budget report tabled during the meeting, police are seeing a revenue shortfall of just over $2 million during the first three months of 2020, attributed “primarily ... to provincial stay-at-home measures as part of COVID -19 mitigation efforts.”

In particular, the police service is receiving less income from school boards for the school resource officer program (school boards pay about 42 per cent of each officer’s salary), as well as from seized vehicles, police information checks and extra-duty deployments.

During the first quarter of 2020, EPS recorded a net deficit of about $3.9 million, or 4.1 per cent. Overall, the service is projecting a yearend operating deficit of about $1.75 million, which will be covered out of operating reserves.

Mcfee said the police service is seeing lower income from things like traffic tickets, while grappling with increased costs, such as acquiring personal protective equipment (PPE) and staffing positions when members have to self-isolate.

“We’re trying to do our best to focus on what does the future of policing look like going forward, what alterations, what changes we can make,” Mcfee said.

“We’re fairly confident at this point that we’re going to have to make some alterations but we’re going to manage it from the (budget) allotment we have.”

He said there are concerns “the longer this goes.”

“At this point I think we’re managing, but again, timing, and how long it goes, and do we see a second wave ... those are all things we’re obviously trying to forecast and see what’s on the horizon.”

COVID -19 has been hard on municipal budgets, which have less fiscal flexibility than senior levels of government. While there is no suggestion Edmonton is in a similar position, Vancouver has proposed cutting its police budget by one per cent in response to COVID -related shortfalls. Vancouver’s police chief says the cut will have a serious impact on service levels.

This week, Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson mused about shutting down transit over the summer as a cost-saving measure, comments which he quickly walked back.