The recent discussion in the region about hiring a school resource officer to maintain a police presence in area schools — at the expense of area municipalities — is troubling. It represents yet another example of provincial costs being downloaded onto municipalities.
Westlock County council has indicated its willingness to chip in 25 per cent of the cost of such an officer, as long as the town picks up another 25 per cent and the Pembina Hills school division picks up the rest of the total cost of more than $130,000.
The intention behind this isn’t necessarily a bad one. School resource officers can certainly have a positive impact on students and schools, assuming you find the right person for the job. Among other things, it can teach students that whatever else they might think about the police, there is an officer with a name and a face who is showing an active interest in what’s going on in their school.
The problem with this is, as two county councillors pointed out by voting against financially supporting a police officer for Westlock’s schools, it shouldn’t be small municipalities’ responsibility to ensure adequate police resources or adequate education resources.
By lending support to this cost-sharing scheme, and to the county’s enhanced police position before this, council might as well just send the province a blank cheque and say, “We don’t mind footing the bill for your expenses.”
In Alberta, the cost of policing in small municipalities is a provincial responsibility. In all of Canada, primary and secondary education is a provincial responsibility.
So why should municipal ratepayers find themselves on the hook for costs their provincial taxes should cover, especially in light of the substantial increase to school requisitions this year?
Yes, the school resource officer could have a positive impact on our education system. And yes, the school resource officer could also have a positive impact on policing in our community.
But it shouldn’t be our property taxes and municipal grants that fund these things.
In this province, one of the richest jurisdictions in the entire world, there’s no reason that citizens should have to continue paying out of pocket to cover the costs that provincial revenues should cover.
