A proposal from the province that would see rural municipalities start paying for policing services will only stretch Westlock County thinner as they cope with a myriad of expenses that continues to grow and only a single revenue stream from which to collect.
That is the sentiment coming out of Westlock County council Oct. 8 as it discussed the proposed police costing model from the Solicitor General’s Office and the Alberta Justice Department.
The proposal would see rural municipalities chip in anywhere between 15 per cent and 70 per cent of total costs for policing, which would come out to a tax increase for Westlock County ratepayers of 1.6 per cent to eight per cent, in a single year, just to cover those policing costs, said deputy reeve Brian Coleman.
“This is going to be a tough one for Westlock County as well as for other rural municipalities. There are several things that are going to be very tough in this budget and this policing issue is one of them. This came almost out of nowhere,” said Coleman.
On the high side, at 70 per cent, Westlock County would have to find another $855,000 to cover those costs, said CAO Leo Ludwig. At the low-end, 15 per cent, the new fee would require an additional $183,000 yearly.
“That would have a significant impact on our budget and our taxpayers,” he continued.
Reeve Hall said, “There’s so many unanswered questions and of course you want to protect your own municipality. You don’t want to have to raise taxes, so there is a lot of work that has to be done yet.”
Ludwig acknowledged that while the proposed model is still preliminary, he does expect the province to follow through. He suspects it will be a severe revenue strain and financial challenge for the municipality, which is also dealing with declining linear assessment base, a continuing inflation-positive fiscal cost environment and upcoming intermunicipal obligations, along with increasingly high costs for insurance and fuel.
Despite the financial burden, Ludwig said, he’s confident the proposal will become official at some point soon, but he’s less confident it will correlate to an increase in rural service either.
“Having been in the industry 27 years, when the province tables something like that, it’s pretty rare to see them walk back from it. It’s not that they can’t, because they could, but I’m not optimistic that they will,” said Ludwig.
“The amount of police officers in the country, right now is at a 10-year low, so for someone to say that if we put this money in, we’re going to see an increase in police coverage, we can’t put those boots on the ground if they’re not there.
“If they’re at a 10-year low now, how do they address that?
Coleman said the police costing should not be based on equalized assessment either, because it is a population-based service.
Second, Coleman said the cost should be shown as a direct requisition, like schools and seniors housing, on residents’ tax bills.
“The reason I think that is important is because if rural tax payers see a separate line item on their taxes that shows their policing costs, they’ll know what they’re paying and be able to call their MLA and say, ‘We’re paying this much for policing and we’re not seeing any change in policing in rural Alberta.’ I think that is a very important point in this whole process,” he said.
Coun. Dennis Primeau reminded council they could consider a part-time RCMP officer come budget deliberations, as they have in the past. Coun. Jared Stitsen noted that a lot of the general public was not in favour of taking on an RCMP member strictly for the county because the municipality had little control over the officer’s duties.
Council voted unanimously 7-0 to support the Rural Municipalities of Alberta’s continued dialogue with the province and the organization’s submission to the province in regards to the policing model, and that the reeve and CAO provide a response to the province outlining the significant fiscal challenges the county would face.
