Changes to the funding of policing in rural Alberta reportedly being considered by the government raise a number of significant concerns, says Al Kemmere, the president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta Association (RMA).
The government is reportedly considering cuts to provincial funding of 291 rural municipalities that do not now directly pay for policing through their municipal taxes.
The government is reportedly proposing that those communities would begin paying a percentage of frontline policing costs, ranging from 15 per cent to 70 per cent.
The 70 per cent options would cost municipalities $157 million.
The RMA represents 69 rural municipalities, including Mountain View and Red Deer counties.
Kemmere, who is also a Mountain View County councillor, says the association has already voiced its concerns over the proposed funding formula changes.
“You do have some major concerns with it,” said Kemmere. “This is a proposal that is just taking the cost of policing from the provincial budget onto the municipal tax base and it’s not reflecting anything to improve service levels or to improve the input of people who are paying.
“It’s just a money transfer and that’s the concern that we voice in our meetings with the government.”
He called the proposal unbalanced.
“Recognizing that it is a draft document that has been put out in front of us for discussion, there are many pieces in that that we do have concerns with,” he said.
“The fact that they are looking at a funding model that is leaning heavily on the rural municipalities compared to others is one thing. Another concern is the document that they have put out ranges from 15 per cent of financial contribution from the property tax base to 70 per cent. That's quite a wide variety.”
The RMA is calling on the province to reconsider the entire proposal, he said.
“We’ve sent our submission to them and it is significant. We are asking for a whole revisit of what they have submitted to us,” he said. “It’s a pretty broad document but there are still some principles that are missing.
“While they say they want to help fight rural crime with this mechanism, there is nothing in there that shows changes to service levels or if we pay more we will see more police on our county roads. None of that is in there. It’s a money talk more than a service talk.”
Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills UCP MLA Nathan Cooper said no decision has been made about changes to rural funding of policing.
“I think one of the primary jobs of a government is public safety and the government has a responsibility to provide that, and this is a great time to talk about ways that we do that, but I certainly wouldn’t be in support of additional costs being put on rural constituents.”
The official Opposition NDP is calling on the Kenney government to abandon its proposal.
“In the last election, the UCP ran on protecting rural people from crime,” said Opposition leader Rachel Notley. “What they didn’t say is that rural people would have to pay the cost, without getting a single new resource. This is a complete 180 and is a broken promise to rural Albertans, plain and simple.”
NDP Municipal Affairs critic Joe Ceci added: “These cuts will leave local leaders with no choice but to raise taxes on rural Albertans, cut policing, cut other municipal services, or a combination of the three. All this after giving a $4.5-billion gift to their wealthy friends and donors.”
