Increasing fuel, overtime costs push Brandon police budget into the red

The Brandon Police Service continues to feel the COVID-19 pandemic pinch, with overtime costs and high fuel prices pushing the projected 2022 budget into a deficit.

The southwestern Manitoba city's police service is now expecting a deficit of $174,803 for 2022, on a total budget now projected to hit $16.1 million this year, according to an update presented at a Brandon Police Board meeting on Sept. 23.

One of the biggest drivers is the increased cost of fuel. As gas prices have climbed this year, the service now expects to be $78,000 over its initial $190,000 budget for gasoline, according to notes in the budget document presented last month.

Fuel prices have dropped since spiking past the $2 per litre mark for regular gasoline earlier this summer, but the average price in Brandon on Friday was still 183.9 cents per litre, according to the Canadian Automobile Association. 

Increased overtime expenses are another factor for Brandon police. The 2022 budget approved by council included $534,000 for overtime salaries. That number is now expected to hit $600,000 this year, an increase of $66,000.

"This year we've had a few different staffing voids because of ... the spinoff effects of COVID," police Chief Wayne Balcaen said in an interview last week.

"For several years elective surgeries were delayed because of COVID, and this year it's really caught up with our staff."

Many police service members who were waiting for non-work-related elective surgeries are now getting them as pandemic restrictions are eased, said Balcaen, leading to a higher number of vacancies to be filled.

The police service couldn't anticipate those leave requests, he said, because members' medical information is private. 

"When we did our quarterly audit, this struck us as an area where we saw an uptick, but [we] had no way of doing any preventative measures," Balcaen said.

While fuel costs are rising, patrolling is "business as usual," he said.

"We're certainly not going to scale back any of our patrols or work because of the rise in costs," he said.

"I can either find more efficiencies or other savings or look at look at the areas within my budget that can be scaled back until the end of the year."

Burnout a concern: police union

Labour shortages are a fact of life for any workplace currently, said Darren Creighton, president of the Brandon Police Association.

Members don't feel they can say no when a surgery time becomes available, not knowing when there might be another opportunity, he said.

Police management works around these requests the best it can, Creighton said.

However, the current state of overtime requests remains a concern for the Brandon Police Association. There are worries about fatigue and burnout from members as they're called in to work overtime.

"Members are tired or extremely busy, as everybody has seen as Brandon has changed," Creighton said. "The calls for service are a lot more than when I first started, and we're dealing with a different type of issue on the streets in Brandon now." 

He said an increased reliance on overtime seems to be the norm for police forces across the country, based on talks with his union cohorts.

With a rising number of calls — along with increased risk, complexity and more time needed to respond to those calls — Brandon's police "need a few more bodies," Creighton said.

"That should help balance things out in case you have members off injured or sick."

City feeling COVID fallout costs

The rising cost of fuel has impacted the overall budget for the City of Brandon for 2022, director of finance Tara Pearce said Friday.

The costs have particularly affected the transit system, public works and general operations using fuel, leading to a $938,000 overage in fuel costs for 2022, she said.

"This would be an unusual year," Pearce said. "There's been unprecedented fuel costs over the summer and then the city is subject to … those costs as well."

The city has also seen an increase in overtime throughout its operations, Pearce said. That's due to variables such as requests for sick time or surgeries, general labour shortages for seasonal positions, and heavy snowfall over the winter that required more workers on the streets.

The uncertainty of COVID-19 impacts is still on the radar as planning is underway for the 2023 budget, Pearce said.

"It's certainly something that we're very aware of and trying to do our best to manage," Pearce said.

"We continue to deliver the essential services, but we ... are aware of our consumption, and try to take measures to be more efficient."