Two big-ticket 2021 budget submissions gave their pitches to city council on Thursday night. 

The Moose Jaw Board of Police Commissioners submitted a budget of $10.7 million for operating funds and $450,000 for capital funding. 

Meanwhile, the Moose Jaw Public Library submitted a request for$1.2 million. 

Police Chief Rick Bourassa presented to city council on behalf of the police board. 

Last year, the police requested $10.1 million but Bourassa said the city was providing financial services free of charge. The increase is to correct this at a cost of $216,000 as the board is an independent body. Despite the increase, the revenue would stay the same for the city. 

Bourassa said the increase will also be used to hire more officers. 

“The Board of Police Commissioners authorizes the number of police officers and civilian personnel that police service can have, and currently the Moose Jaw police service has 59 police officers authorized. This budget includes an increase to an authorized number of 61 beginning in July of 2021.” 

The new officers would be tasked with child exploitation and gang violence and drugs units. 

Bourassa also pointed to the fact that the Moose Jaw police have the lowest ratio of officers per capita in the province. He did highlight the Police and Crisis Team (PACT) that provincially funds teams of police officers and mental health workers. 

Moose Jaw also has four officers in the Combined Traffic Services Saskatchewan that have municipal police officers that provide traffic safety services in other communities as well as Moose Jaw. 

For capital funding, Bourassa said the major difference was the fact that the air conditioning unit that the police station shares with City Hall needs to be replaced and the police’s half of the cost is $380,000. The other $70,000 would go into costs such as replacing the elevator, relocating the meeting room into a public area and replacing the backstop at the firing range. 

Library Requests Slight Increase 

The Moose Jaw Public Library submitted $1.2 million, which is slightly up from $1.04 million in took in this year. The 2020 budget was reduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Head librarian Gwen Fisher said they are expecting higher office expenditures to keep staff safe during the pandemic and an increase in the equipment reserve, which is a yearly increase. 

Fisher added that the library had a great start to 2020 with 160 people taking part Seedy Sunday. 

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and, like many organizations, it was a struggle. 

“On March 17 we did close the physical library to the general public due to the public health threat, and at that point, we began plans to reduce the workforce for those who worked directly with the public or with our physical items because we were no longer lending them,” Fisher said. 

The library ended up going digital with virtual programming and a virtual helpdesk.