Complaining and criticizing — finding flaws and pointing them out — as the saying accurately goes, is the easy part.
Far more complicated and challenging is conjuring up potential solutions to find a better way forward.
So while Sundre’s council should be commended for taking the time to carefully consider and analyze the impact of the provincial government’s planned changes to the police funding formula on local taxpayers, correspondence that was prepared outlining concerns was lacking in one department — recommended courses of action.
Coun. Cheri Funke was right to raise the alarm that depending on how the new funding model is rolled out, Sundre could be on the hook for anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And local taxpayers — ask just about anyone — are already feeling pinched as it is. Arguably no one is likely to be enthusiastic about a proposal to pay even more tax — quite the opposite.
So identifying those issues and making the government aware of the legitimate concerns was without question a good first step. But it did not go far enough.
However, Mayor Terry Leslie decided to take the matter one step further during the regular Oct. 7 meeting. He sought his council colleague’s support to amend the letter to the government to include options to alleviate the sudden financial shock many small municipalities will feel should they suddenly be expected to find room in their already-tight budgets for a big expense that has never previously been factored into their planning process.
The mayor said that council acts locally but looks regionally and even federally when making decisions and should be prepared to take more of a leadership role by presenting potential solutions, which could also benefit other municipalities, alongside any expressions of concern.
We agree.
One of his three suggestions included requiring municipalities to undergo a means test to ensure they can even afford the new expense without breaking their budget. The other two recommendations were to ask the provincial government to allocate funding from the federal government’s revenue stream generated by retail sales of cannabis to municipalities to offset the cost of policing, as well as to allow municipalities to tax cannabis production facilities at commercial and industrial rates, which are higher than the current agricultural rates.
In the end, council agreed to amend the letter to include the mayor’s first suggestion that municipalities should undergo a means test before being expected to pay for policing, but felt the issue of allocating revenue created by cannabis production facilities and retail sales should be addressed separately.
The discussion was productive and sets a good example for all councils. Expressing concerns is good but recommending sensible, actionable solutions is next level.
So we hope the provincial government takes the suggestions, and others, to heart and gives them serious consideration.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
