SEVEN FIELDS — The Evans City/Seven Fields Regional Police Commission approved its budget for 2019 Monday, allocating funds for a fifth full-time officer, body cameras for on-duty officers and more.

The budget calls for spending $837,219, up from $794,115 planned for 2018 — a 4.4 percent increase.

The budget allocates funds for a 4 percent salary increase for officers as laid out in the collective bargaining agreement, along with the allocation of funds for a fifth full-time police officer, a new license plate reader, a police cruiser, technology upgrades and three body cameras to be used by on-duty officers.

The body cameras will cost $4,800 and will be available for all three officers on duty.

Police Chief Joe McCombs said they will help cover “high-end situations,” and Tom Smith, police administrator, commended their utility in an age of smartphones in letting the public see things from the officer’s perspective at a meeting in Evans City earlier this month.

Regionalization is expected to save Evans City $68,377 and Seven Fields $68,640 in 2019, when comparing what the boroughs estimate they would have spent if they hadn’t formed the regional police department in 2014, according to figures from the department.