WHEREAS the City of Williams Lake received an increase of 260,000 in RCMP costs for 2004 and municipalities between 5,000 and 15,000 population are making significant contributions to funding of police costs in their own communities, and policing costs are pooled between these 32 communities and then divided among them; AND WHEREAS these municipalities do not have access to other revenue sources to offset the ever-increasing costs of policing and have little or no involvement in the development and oversight of RCMP budgets, and City Councils are held accountable to their taxpayers for all expenditures, including policing: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the provincial and federal governments, with the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, bring together the 32 communities with populations between 5,000 and 15,000 to address the impact of pooled costs and to explore working together to lobby for municipal involvement in the development, prioritization and oversight of the RCMP.
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND SOLICITOR GENERAL Overall police budgets for municipalities between 5,000 and 15,000 population are determined by the RCMP based on the number of members allocated to each municipality and the average per member cost for all 32 municipalities who were between 5,000 and 15,000 population following the last Canada Census. RCMP salary increases are determined by Federal Treasury Board based on input from the RCMP Pay Council. Neither the province nor local governments have input to the process for determining RCMP salary increases. We support the resolution to bring together the 32 communities with populations between 5,000 and 15,000 to address the impact of pooled budget costs.
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS I understand your concerns regarding the increasing cost of policing in your municipalities. As you note in your resolution, policing costs in the province are pooled between the 32 communities and divided among them and as such the province, as signatory to the British Columbia Municipal Police Service Agreement, is responsible for interactions with all municipalities that receive policing under contract to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCMP. I would urge you to bring your concerns forward to the appropriate provincial representatives. Your concerns about the priorities of the RCMP are addressed in the Police Service agreement. Article 4.3 of the agreement states that the municipal Chief Executive Officer may set objectives, priorities and goals for the Municipal Police Unit. Article 4.5 of the agreement indicates that the member in charge of the Municipal Police Unit shall report to the municipality on the implementation of the objectives, priorities and goals. Your member municipalities may wish to discuss this further with their local detachment commander.