The Saskatoon Police Service is projecting a $94.6 million operating budget next year.

The Saskatoon Police Service is seeking an increase of nearly five per cent to its operating budget next year — a figure that would amount to a $4.1-million boost over 2018.

The 4.57-per-cent increase would address rising salaries, the hiring of 10 additional full-time staff and higher costs to maintain the service’s equipment and four-year-old headquarters.

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According to a preliminary operating budget estimate Chief Troy Cooper submitted to the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners this month, the police force is projecting a $94.6 million operating budget next year. The 2018 operating budget was $90.5 million, which meant about 23 cents of every dollar in municipal property taxes went to the police force.

In his report, Cooper says police will pay $3 million more in staff compensation next year compared to 2018, due to negotiated pay increases for sworn officers and civilian personnel and “a large number of staff” who are moving up to higher pay levels next year.

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The police union and the board of police commissioners ratified a three-year contract this summer that runs to the end of 2019. The contract , which is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2017, offers cumulative increases of 6.5 per cent.

Cooper is also seeking funding for 10 new full-time positions, which would bring the service’s pool of employees to 666.53 positions.

Cooper wants to hire an additional crash analyst constable, who “is intended to better support the potential increase in crash analysis that may be caused if more impaired drivers are on the road” — almost certainly a response to the impending legalization of marijuana on Wednesday. That would cost $75,300 next year.

Cooper’s report says one of the police force’s goals is to improve its Patrol Availability Factor (PAF), which measures the proportion of time officers have to do preventive work rather than responding to calls.

According to an independent review made public this spring, Saskatoon police had a PAF of 30 per cent in 2015. Policing is believed to be at its most effective when the PAF is at 40 per cent.

Independent consultants perivale + taylor said to get the PAF to 40 per cent, police would need a 30 per cent increase in staffing or could add resources in a more strategic manner, such as by creating a new deployment model that would have more officers working during busier times.

To address the PAF issue, Cooper wants to hire three new patrol constables at $75,300 each, for a total cost of $225,900 next year.

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He is also seeking municipal funding to hire two new patrol analysts, a junior access and privacy officer in the freedom of information and protection of privacy office, another clerk to work in the finance department and another communications staff member.

The police expect to hire a new Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit officer next year, but this cost would be covered by the provincial government.

Cooper expects that, in 2019, the force will spend $211,600 more to operate and maintain its facilities, and $109,000 more to operate and maintain its vehicles than it did this year.

The proposed budget will be discussed at a Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Thursday.