City seeks cut to police costs

By WOLF DEPNERWestern News StaffMar 30 2007 http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/

The city wants to pay less for policing. “The federal government is pretty rich, the province is not short, but we (municipalities) are,” said Mayor Jake Kimberley. He made that comment after he and director of corporate services Jack Kler joined municipal officials from around the province to discuss the cost of policing with provincial officials Wednesday. Kler said policing is the largest cost-item in the city’s budget, adding up to $6.5 million under the current formula that forces Penticton to pay for 90 per cent of local policing. “The ratio has been addressed," said Kimberley. "Ninety per cent is way too much. There should be some provincial contribution.”

He said the source of additional funding is open to discussion, but Kimberley would like to see the city’s share drop to 70 per cent with the provincial and federal government making up the rest. Municipalities currently contribute $369 million to RCMP policing in British Columbia. The federal government contributes $105 million and the provincial government contributes $41 million. Policing is the largest cost facing municipalities, yet they have no way to control it, said Kler. Factors that affect policing such as the judicial system, health and education are “part of the provincial umbrella of services,” he added. “That is not within our ability to control.”

Other factors affecting local policing budget include the increased sophistication of policing methods and capital costs for infrastructure like the new RCMP building which cost the city $4.5 million. “That was all the city’s money,” said Kimberley. Kler said Wednesday’s meeting made it clear that Penticton is not the only community facing this problem. “We are not alone in this,” he said, pointing to a long list of municipalities that attended the meeting. “We weren’t just addressing the issues of larger municipalities.” This call for more policing money from higher levels of government comes five years before the current agreement expires in 2012.

Kler said Wednesday’s meeting was the first phase leading to a new contract between the federal government and the municipalities represented by the province. But this negotiation structure has raised questions whether the province — facing pressure to pay more for policing — will actually go to bat for the municipalities. Kimberley said the meeting made it clear that the province needs to be more forceful in representing municipalities. “I would like to think that we are all doing this in good faith,” said Kler.