Should we cut policing to afford to fix this road? Or should we delay fixing this road so we can continue to afford the police?
I dread the day I see that as an item on any of our municipalities’ agendas. It's a choice no community should have to make.
But, it might be a choice municipal leaders face as more policing costs are downloaded onto municipalities.
Policing in many rural and smaller Alberta communities has long been provided by the RCMP through provincial and municipal contracts with the federal government.
Traditionally, the province covered the majority of policing costs.
In recent years, however, when Alberta introduced the Police Funding Model in 2020, shares of municipalities steadily increased to 30 per cent in 2024, compared to 10 per cent in 2018.
The shift was meant to reflect rising RCMP expenses, such as wage increases from agreements between the RCMP and the federal government, which includes annual pay raises of 1.75 per cent from 2017 to 2023. That’s fair.
The province did acknowledge the strain on municipalities and froze cost increases until March 2026, which was projected to increase by 39 per cent more by 2025. This would cost the province $27 million.
After March 2026, municipalities will be on the hook for any increases in policing costs, and I doubt it’ll be just 39 per cent. I wouldn't be surprised if municipalities will look at close to a 50 per cent share with the way inflation works.
Now, the problem is, policing is extremely expensive, and I’d be delusional if I said municipalities, particularly small, rural municipalities, can afford it.
The Town of St. Paul, for example, uses roughly a quarter of its total tax revenue to pay for RCMP costs, which includes a $2.2 million RCMP contract.
If the province’s funding formula returns to the planned 39 per cent share after March 2026, the town’s cost would jump to around $2.86 million, or an increase of $660,000 annually, all without changes to policing services.
For a municipality with just about $20 million in operating revenue, that’s a serious hit.
Not to mention per capita infrastructure funding has also steadily fallen over the past decade. Infrastructure funding per capital fell from $424 in 2011 to $154 in 2023, at least according to information from Alberta Municipalities.
Basically, costs are going up while funding is goes down. It’s a trend you see not only with policing, but education as well, with Lakeland school boards grappling with decreased funding too.
When it comes to policing, this is not me blaming the provincial government.
The province has a point. Alberta and its municipalities shouldn’t be paying for unfilled RCMP positions or the idea of being forced to absorb higher costs for services that may not be being fully delivered.
It’s also not right to freeze the salaries of our RCMP officers as the cost of living increases.
But as it stands, municipalities are being left to make the hardest choices with the least control, caught in a crossfire between the province and the federal government.
What should we do then? Should we let municipalities directly deal with the federal government?
But that would be inefficient? It's probably going to be an administrative hell.
So, I think it’s only fair to cap municipal cost-share to 30 per cent, and not just for a year. That's a 30/40/30 split respectively between municipalities, provinces, and the federal government.
Sure, the province will bear more risks, but this will help stabilize municipal budgets while the provincial and the federal governments duke it out for what they deem a balanced policing contract.
All I’m saying is keep public safety out of politics.
