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California State Auditor Report Number : 2015-129

King City Police Department
Strengthening Management Practices Would Help Its Efforts to Prevent Officer Misconduct and to Regain the Public’s Trust



Appendix

Expense Categories

Source: California State Auditor’s review of department expenses and interviews with department and city staff.

Review of Significant Variances in Expenses of the King City Police Department

We were asked to review the expenses for the past five years of the King City Police Department (Department) and to determine the reasons for any significant variances in program and staff allocations. The Department organizes its expenses into functional areas—such as police administration, support services, and patrol and field operations—and it assigns these expenses to one of several line items within the broader areas of the Department. As a result, the Department’s expense reports have similar line items in multiple areas, such as having a salary line item both in police administration and in patrol and field operations. To identify significant variances in department spending across the five-year review period of fiscal years 2010–11 through 2014–15, we combined the Department’s line items regardless of the broader department area and grouped the line items into 10 expense categories, as shown in the text box. We reviewed the total expenses of each category and looked for significant year-to-year variances—which we considered to be changes from one year to the next—that were greater than 20 percent and $25,000, as well as variances for which the ratio of the standard deviation to the average for the five‑year period was greater than 40 percent. We determined that six categories had little or no variance from year to year, and four categories—recruitment and training, radios and communication, animal control, and internal affairs investigations—had significant variances in departmental expenses. Department or city staff were able to provide reasonable explanations and supporting documentation for each of the significant variances. We present the expenses of these four categories in Figure A along with the justifications department and city staff provided.

Figure A
Four Categories of Spending From the King City Police Department With Significant Variances During Fiscal Years 2010–11 Through 2014–15

Four Categories From the King City Police Department With Significant Variances During Fiscal Years 2010–11 Through 2014–15

Sources: Review by the California State Auditor of the Department’s expenses for fiscal years 2010–11 through 2014–15 and interviews with department and city staff.




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