BONNYVILLE - There may be a lot of unanswered questions, but the MD of Bonnyville has a few more answers when it comes to changes being made to Alberta's police cost funding model.
MD council reviewed a letter sent to the president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), Al Kenmore, by Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Doug Schweitzer during their committee meeting on Wednesday.
The correspondence answers some, but not all of the local municipality's questions when it comes to the formula.
"They did clear up a little bit of information on how it's going to be rolled out going forward," explained general manager of environment and protective services Matt Janz. "Obviously they won't be sending any invoices until 2021, but it will be for the 2020 budget year."
In the first year, the MD will be required to pay 10 per cent of policing costs for a total of $407,789. By 2024, they will be covering 30 per cent of the bill to a tune of roughly $1.2-million.
The province has decided to phase-in the change in order to "give communities time to adjust," the minister's letter explains.
Starting at 10 per cent in 2020, the amount will increase to 15 per cent for 2021, followed by another five per cent jump in 2022, and a final growth to 30 per cent in 2023.
The letter explains how the ministry came to the decision to hold-off on sending the bill until next year, noting there were municipalities who would have had to borrow money, pull from reserves, or make other spending adjustments in order to cover the expense.
"By delaying the billing, it allows municipalities to include the actual expenditure in their 2021 annual budget and this would provide time to make adjustments on taxes to collect the revenue required to pay the invoice," detailed Schweitzer in his letter.
This cost, which takes effect April 1, 2020, is not only new to the MD of Bonnyville, but all small and rural municipalities, who, prior to these amendments, weren't required to pay for policing.
When council first heard the news, the question was raised on whether their final $1.2-million contribution would be partially offset by the enhanced positions the MD already funds.
This detail was included in the minister's response to RMA.
In the letter, Schweitzer states, "communities will also no longer be billed for the full-time enhanced policing positions they have previously funded, as the government will be absorbing those."
According to the letter, there is a detachment subsidy, however, municipal districts and counties aren't eligible because "almost all of these municipalities have one or more detachments within their boundaries."
"There are still a lot of unknowns. I think once they work through this and obviously, meet with council, they may bring forward some modifiers," Janz expressed.
MD Reeve Greg Sawchuk said, "That's why we've asked for that meeting with Schweitzer, and we have a very strong case in regards to our costs existing already and what we've put forward for new policing."
