For the first time in seven years, the Vancouver Police Department is in danger of running a deficit because of its continued monitoring of the “Occupy Vancouver” protest outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Police Chief Jim Chu warned the Vancouver Police Board Wednesday that deploying officers to the protest since it began Saturday has been expensive and “threatens our ability to meet our budget this year.”

“The cost of the policing is not trivial but we’re going to deploy what we need to keep the protesters as well as the public safe,” Chu told reporters after the board meeting but wouldn’t reveal costs. “For any event where there’s an extended period of time that it’s going to occur, and when we don’t know for certainty what kind of event it’s going to be, it is very difficult to put a final budget number on it.”

The VPD’s operating budget hovers around $200 million but it has no contingency fund other than a $2.4 million criminal investigation budget that goes toward overtime costs related to homicides, kidnappings and major crimes.

Until the protest began Saturday, the chief said, the department was on course to balance its budget for the seventh consecutive year—even with policing costs associated to the Stanley Cup playoffs and the June 15 riot which erupted downtown after the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in Game 7.

“When we’re near the end of the year, and an unexpected event occurs like ‘Occupy Vancouver’, then it doesn’t give us an opportunity through other months to try to make up for the shortfall that this may cause us,” the chief said.

The department is also not allowed to use any surpluses from previous years. But Mayor Gregor Robertson, who is chairperson of the police board, wouldn’t commit to changing the arrangement when questioned after the meeting.

“The police have had a stellar record the last six years, and so it’s an extraordinary year like this that provokes the question around having a contingency in the VPD budget,” Robertson told the Courier. “I’m certainly open-minded to new approaches.”

If the VPD runs a deficit, the mayor said it would likely be covered by a city contingency fund. But what’s the consequence to the VPD of going over budget?

“That’s a good question,” Robertson said. “It hasn’t happened under my watch and for several years before, so it’s obviously something we’ll look closely at what next steps and proactive approaches we can take so the police can address an extraordinary year like this.”

mhowell@vancourier.com

Twitter: @Howellings