BONNYVILLE - The MD of Bonnyville won't have to fork over any cash for policing in 2020, after the province notified municipalities the new funding model wouldn't come into play until 2021.
“It was released late last week that the province did confirm they won’t be requesting money for 2020. The first requisition will be in 2021,” noted general manager of environmental and protective services for the MD Matt Janz.
In its first year, the MD will pay 10 per cent of policing costs for a total of $407,789. Based on the phased-in approach, by 2024 the municipality will be covering 30 per cent of the bill to a tune of roughly $1.2-million.
This is a new cost to not only the MD, but all rural and small Alberta communities who weren't required to pay for policing prior to the province modifying the funding model earlier this year.
Janz noted the amount they would be expected to contribute doesn't take into account the enhanced police positions the MD is already paying for.
This includes administration staff at both the Cold Lake and Bonnyville detachments, the crime analyst, the Lakeland Crime Reduction Unit, or the position the MD has an agreement with the Town of Bonnyville for.
He added, once those items are taken into consideration, the total cost of policing for the MD should decrease.
“We feel that with these modifiers we will be able to change those numbers."
Coun. Mike Krywiak still wondered why the province decided to jump from 20 per cent in 2023 to 30 per cent in 2024, when previous increases were done in five per cent increments.
“I don’t agree with the jump from 20 to 30 per cent. It should have been to 25 per cent,” he stated.
Another area of concern for council continues to be the number of RCMP officers the province intends to hire.
Following discussions with local RCMP, the MD has learned that number isn't nearly as high as the MD's original assumption of 250.
“That number of 250, (the RCMP) feel that it's decreased so there aren’t as many vacant positions existing, but there still is well over 100 vacant positions,” CAO Luc Mercier told council. “They didn’t give us an exact number, but they felt the 250 was a little high."
Regardless, council was still uncomfortable with the province's promise to fullfill an additional 300 positions.
This, among the list of modifiers, were included in the MD's letter being sent to the Solicitor General, which was decided during council's meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
Meagan MacEachern, Bonnyville Nouvelle
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Dec. 12: MD of Bonnyville wants to know more about policing costs
