All Alberta municipalities, regardless of size or type, could be paying for RCMP.
Earlier this month, the provincial government announced their decision to review their policing cost formula, which currently sees communities with over 15,000 residents paying for 90 per cent of their RCMP services and those with less than 15,000 paying for 70 per cent. Any towns or cities with under 5,000 people, counties, and municipal districts aren’t currently contributing to policing costs.
According to Town of Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski, the province picks up the balance.
“We pay for our own policing, the MD never has had to because that’s handled by the province. What the new government has done, is they’ve decided that the portion of policing they provide, which is RCMP services to rural municipalities and communities with under 5,000 people, they will now have to pay,” added town assistant CAO Bill Rogers. “They’re going to introduce this new policing formula, we’re not quite sure what it is yet, but they will pay based on a combination of their assessment value and their populations for the same policing services like we do.”
Based on the town’s population, right now they pay 70 per cent for RCMP, similarly to the City of Cold Lake.
Just like the town, Cold Lake has been pushing for a change to the funding model.
“I think over the years we have always thought that it if more municipalities shared in the costing of police in your local area, maybe the urban’s portion would go down. In this presentation so far, even though they’re going to ask these 291 municipalities to contribute… it never spoke to if the urban’s portion will go down. The city is paying 70 per cent, let’s just say the MD’s now going to have to pay for policing in some kind of formula, is that money staying in the regional pool of the costing of RCMP for the Cold Lake and Bonnyville detachments, or is it going towards the government’s portion of paying for policing for the rural and is the government’s portion going down and the city’s portion will remain the same?” asked Mayor Craig Copeland during city council’s meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Sobolewski said, “The town’s stance for the last 25 years, or since I’ve been on council, is that the current formula that was provided for how policing was paid for, there were issues with it. For example, in the current mechanism, we have to have a contract with the RCMP. We budget for 13 members and we likely only have about 11.”
He continued, “There’s no magical red line that says those constables and supporting admin staff are going to work strictly for the town.”
The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) has felt the same way when it comes to who pays for police officers.
“The AUMA had been petitioning for years to try and get the formula changed. Now you look at the new formula that they’ve got and they’ve introduced this aspect of equalized assessment. Those that have a higher equalized assessment among the rurals are going to pay a higher proportionate share to the rural policing issue than those that don’t. That’s something that we here in the urbans don’t have. We have our own contract,” explained Sobolewski.
During the MD of Bonnyville’s meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 11, Reeve Greg Sawchuk said based on his initial calculations, if this new policing costs method moves forward, the municipality could expect to be contributing anywhere from $800,000 to $3-million per year.
“There will be a number of counties that feel this is a pretty big cost to take on,” Sawchuk stated. “Some of the questions we had coming out of it, was that it really looks like another downloading from the province, but Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) did put forward their remarks and what they had said is they were looking for more engagement between the province and the rurals in regards to this, they want a fairness in the ability to pay, they looked at service levels, for example if you’re paying are you going to be getting an increase in service levels, but there was no indication that was going to be the case.”
RMA also want peace officers, such as those utilized by the MD, to be recognized for what they do and what they have to offer.
Another point Sawchuk noted, was the need for the provincial government to “understand the impact this will have on municipalities, and that this not be a knee-jerk reaction, that it be phased in over time.”
Sobolewski agreed with rural municipalities frustrated by the lack of indication on whether their dollars will result in more policing in their communities.
“As an urban, if the province came up with a goofy formula like that I would be saying ‘no, I’m only going to pay for however many police officers I’m supposed to have and I’m only paying for that, I’m not going to pay and subsidize for someone else.’”
He added, “I think one of the unintended consequences is there’s going to be this nasty microscope that’s going to start focusing on police services and that’s something I don’t want to happen, but I think it will be inevitable.”
Describing policing issues as “extremely complex,” Sobolewski explained how coming up with a simple formula is “only going to cause more issues.”
“The MD, I think, is absolutely correct… It’s the same argument the town has been riding for the last 20 years, if we have 13 officers, we want those 13 officers doing what they need to do in the Town of Bonnyville, well that’s not the way it works, there isn’t a magical red line. We’re paying for policing and that’s exactly the issue,” noted Sobolewski.
Copeland said, “It’s not going to increase officers in our community and I think that’s where the rural municipalities have issues with it, is whether their money is going to go toward enhancing more positions for rural crime. From what I get from the presentation, that’s not the way it’s going to go.”
The new formula is still up for debate, and local leaders will be providing their input.
Sobolewski and Copeland were pleased to see change on the horizon, however, there is still a long way to go in terms of ironing out the details.
“I think in talking with some of the rurals there seems to be a bit of a feeling of blindside in terms of this. There was a notification that there may have been some working with the formula and then all of the sudden there was a conference call with ‘here is what we’re thinking,’ and of course, it’s not quite set in stone yet, but it’s floating the idea out and there’s some legislative changes that sound like are in the works,” expressed Sobolewski. “There are some (municipalities) that I would imagine would feel like there was a bit of a blindside, but I think in the end it will all shake out.”
Rogers added, “We’ve definitely been asking for years for a more fair and equitable model and we don’t know for sure the details of this, but what we do know is people who haven’t been paying for policing in the past are now going to have to cover a portion of that cost.”
