At its regular meeting on July 6, 2022, Surrey Police Board reported on its year-to-date expenditures to May 31, which shows Surrey Police Service (SPS) is nearly $7.0M underspent in its operational budget.

The funding for SPS comes from two sources: the council-approved one-time budget to fund the transition from the RCMP to SPS, and an operational budget that is funded through the City of Surrey.

For 2022, the City of Surrey allocated $72.5M of its police services operational budget to SPS, which is 37% of the overall $194.8M used to fund all police services in Surrey (SPS, RCMP and civilian police support services).  The Surrey Police Board only has oversight of its own operational budget ($74.8M including capital reserve), which it reports out on publicly. 

While the Board does not have oversight of the $63.7M one-time policing transition budget, it reports publicly on spending against that budget for public awareness.  This public reporting includes a breakdown of where funds are being spent, including those spent on information technology capital expenditures. Year-to-date expenditure totalled $2.4M for IT infrastructure, which is 21% of the forecasted amount for 2022.  

“This unprecedented transition brings with it a highly complex budget that requires participation from SPS, the RCMP and the City of Surrey,” says Elizabeth Model, Chair of the Surrey Police Board Finance Committee.  “The Board monitors SPS’s use of the operational budget to ensure we are spending only what we are allotted in the overall budget.”

SPS net expenditures were $6.9M in favour at the end of May, and it is anticipated that there will be a favourable surplus by year end.

Included in the SPS operational budget at the end of May are the salaries and benefits of 252 SPS employees (223 sworn members and 29 civilians) who are assigned into a variety of roles including community policing (frontline patrol), community engagement, operational skills training and a variety of administrative roles including policy development, and financial planning. The remaining 26 employees are assigned to tasks specifically related to the policing transition including recruitment and security clearances; these salaries are assigned to the one-time policing transition budget.

The Board will continue to report publicly on both its share of the City’s policing services operational budget and the one-time policing transition budget.  Financial updates are included in the Board’s public agendas, which are posted at www.surreypoliceboard.ca under “Past Meetings”.