Reading\u2019s police department is proposing a $28.7 million budget for 2026, a 7% increase over the current year\u2019s budget of $27.4 million.<\/p>\n
About 90% of the increase stems from contractual obligations, including union agreements, pension costs and the city\u2019s new five-year body camera contract, City Managing Director Jack Gombach said.<\/p>\n
Gombach and City Finance Director Jamar Kelly assisted Police Chief Javier Ruiz in presenting the draft to City Council on\u00a0 Wednesday night at a committee of the whole meeting.<\/p>\n
The department\u2019s budget also reflects steady funding for training programs and police academies, with most major line items remaining level from 2025, Ruiz said.<\/p>\n
Among the largest expenses for 2026 are salaries and benefits, which continue to make up the majority of police spending.<\/p>\n
Ruiz said the department is not adding any new positions but still faces challenges filling existing ones, with 27 officer vacancies reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you know anybody willing to take the test, the police test, send them our way,\u201d Gombach said.<\/p>\n
The new body camera program, approved by council this summer, accounts for a significant portion of the department\u2019s increased contracted services costs, Kelly said. The agreement adds about $600,000 annually for the next five years, he said, noting it is expected to continue increasing thereafter.<\/p>\n
Training programs such as the Police Academy and Youth Police Academy will remain funded at prior-year levels, though council members sought clarification about discrepancies between budgeted and actual spending.<\/p>\n
City administrators said the grant support covers part of the youth academy\u2019s expenses, explaining why its spending hasn\u2019t always reached the full amount budgeted.<\/p>\n
Gombach emphasized that nearly all of the budget growth is tied to long-term obligations rather than new initiatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 90% of our increase in the police department is contractual,\u201d he said, adding that the city is in negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police on the next three-year contract.<\/p>\n
Council will continue reviewing department budgets before finalizing the city\u2019s 2026 spending plan later this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reading\u2019s police department is proposing a $28.7 million budget for 2026, a 7% increase over the current year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-34204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-essential-reading","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-reading","14":"tag-reading-city","15":"tag-reading-city-headlines","16":"tag-reading-city-news","17":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}