Jenkintown Police Costs 40% Higher Than Montco Average: Officials

JENKINTOWN, PA —Costs to run the borough's police department are nearly 40 percent higher than the average Montgomery County police department, according to figures provided in a cost analysis study.

Borough officials are holding a Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED) 'Police Cost to Benefit Analysis' presentation that was performed at the borough's request

Click here to review the presentation

The DCED presentation will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Jenkintown Borough Hall, 700 Summit Ave.

After reviewing the information, officials said it is apparent that the cost of local police services in Jenkintown Borough is higher than in the comparative communities.

It is shown that Jenkintown’s municipal budget is 16.19 percent higher than the Greater Philadelphia Region and 8.09 percent higher than Montgomery County, the cost analysis shows.

The per-capita costs for police services are 6.22 percent higher than the Philadelphia Region and 38.99 percent higher than Montgomery County.

Jenkintown’s police budget is 21.25 percent higher than the Philly Region and 40.54 percent higher than Montgomery County.

Jenkintown’s per-capita cost per police officer employee is 9.74 percent higher than the Philadelphia Region and 22.85 percent higher than Montgomery County.

The "Police Cost to Benefit Analysis" that was performed by the DCED will also be posted to Jenkintown Borough's website and Facebook page.

The scope of this project was to complete a cost-to-benefit analysis of Jenkintown’s police operations, and police staffing needs, officials said.

To achieve this goal, the methodology employed the use of financial data to perform comparative analysis between Jenkintown and communities with similar demographics in the Philadelphia Region and Montgomery County.

The document used seven areas for comparative analysis as follows:

1. Total municipal budget: Annual budgets between communities having similar demographics, such as population, CPI geographic location, etc.
2. Per capita cost for police services: Cost of police services per resident.
3. Total police budget: This is the cost of the police budget compared between the same communities.
4. Percentage of personal costs in the police budget: Personnel costs typically account for 85-90 percent of a police budget.
5. Percentage of the total budget dedicated to the police: There is no data available to identify the acceptable amount allocated towards police operations.
6. Per capita cost per police officer: This metric calculates the approximate cost for each full-time police officer.
7. Total number of officers per 1,000 residents: Number of police officers employed per 1,000 residents, which is later compared using the IACP formula to determine actual staffing needs.

This is the comparison breakdown of Jenkintown Police Department costs compared with the Greater Philadelphia Region and Montgomery County:

(Jenkintown Borough)

Jenkintown officials have provided additional annual expenditures related to police operations that are not included in the MunStats Public Safety section.

These expenditures are as follows:

• Pension —$262,000
• Medical —$258,800
• Dental —$16,309
• Worker’s Compensation —$34,362
• Life Insurance —$15,544
• General Liability —$75,000

Total: $662,015.04

With the inclusion of all actual police department expenditures, Jenkintown's 2023 police services budget totals $2,595,514.00, resulting in a per-capita cost of $550.00 for residents.

This represents 34 percent of the borough's total operating budget and 48.88 percent of the General fund budget.

The per-capita cost is approximately 40 percent higher than the adjusted Commonwealth average, officials said.

Officials said the information is critical for the borough to consider for the sustainability of public safety services within the next 10-15 years.

As are all Borough Public meetings there will be a ZOOM meeting link available should you be unable to attend in person.

The ZOOM meeting link can be requested by emailing the Borough Manager at Glocke@jenkintownboro.com Public meetings can also be viewed over Live Feed on the Borough Facebook page.