Escalating costs associated with the RCMP has prompted Vernon City Council to investigate a municipal police force. A report should be ready for council very shortly. Councillor Jack Gilroy says the city will do a study on costs paid by other cities in the province who have a municipal police force. However, Gilroy cautions residents that this does not mean the city is unhappy with the job the RCMP has been doing. "We're very happy with the RCMP, it's just that the city is getting tired of paying all the costs for everything," says Gilroy. "Not just the RCMP but the civic employees are paid for by the City of Vernon and no one seems to want to assist us in all the employees we have to hire to keep the RCMP going." The City of Vernon currently pays 90 per cent of policing costs while the province picks up the other 10%. Vernon also hires all the support staff for the RCMP. "No one seems to want to give us any money for that. We do that for the whole North Okanagan."
Gilroy says the new RCMP contract, due to come into affect in 2012 will put a real strain on the Vernon budget. "The last time I was at talks in Vancouver they showed us a scale and if we sign that contract in 2012 the way it is now our entire budgets in six or seven years will go strictly to the RCMP. We won't be able to do anything else." He says the province seems to be getting the message but adds the feds are the ones stuck on the 90/10 split, something he says the cities simply can't afford anymore. While the city is investigating costs, Gilroy reiterates that council is not unhappy with the performance of the local RCMP. "We don't want to lose them because they are our Canadian Police Force but we have to put a handle on the taxes."
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The motion passed by Council at the morning COW meeting was:
THAT Council directs staff to proceed with a cost analysis study on the Regional Vernon RCMP detachment with particular attention to the fees the integrated service is costing the City of Vernon Tax payers. CARRIED.
Don Quixote Note: This was a unanimous 6-0 vote of Council and the debate before the vote specifically excluded looking into the possibility of replacing the RCMP with any municipal Police.
The instructions to staff requested by an unanimous vote was to bring back a report on the costs of our present 'integrated policing force model' of the Vernon RCMP detachment and its civilian support staff. An examination would include the present costing formula for the allocation of the manning of the detachment and its support staff and to calculate how much of these costs should be charged to the Province and other outlying areas that the integrated detachment serves rather than to the taxpayers of Vernon .
(for example - a civilian crime analyst for the area is charged 100% to Vernon - what percentage of the work s/b charged to the Province for work done outside the City of Vernon's jurisdiction.) We specifically excluded any discussion of replacing the RCMP with a civilian force.
Gilroy says the new RCMP contract, due to come into affect in 2012 will put a real strain on the Vernon budget. "The last time I was at talks in Vancouver they showed us a scale and if we sign that contract in 2012 the way it is now our entire budgets in six or seven years will go strictly to the RCMP. We won't be able to do anything else." He says the province seems to be getting the message but adds the feds are the ones stuck on the 90/10 split, something he says the cities simply can't afford anymore. While the city is investigating costs, Gilroy reiterates that council is not unhappy with the performance of the local RCMP. "We don't want to lose them because they are our Canadian Police Force but we have to put a handle on the taxes."
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The motion passed by Council at the morning COW meeting was:
THAT Council directs staff to proceed with a cost analysis study on the Regional Vernon RCMP detachment with particular attention to the fees the integrated service is costing the City of Vernon Tax payers. CARRIED.
Don Quixote Note: This was a unanimous 6-0 vote of Council and the debate before the vote specifically excluded looking into the possibility of replacing the RCMP with any municipal Police.
The instructions to staff requested by an unanimous vote was to bring back a report on the costs of our present 'integrated policing force model' of the Vernon RCMP detachment and its civilian support staff. An examination would include the present costing formula for the allocation of the manning of the detachment and its support staff and to calculate how much of these costs should be charged to the Province and other outlying areas that the integrated detachment serves rather than to the taxpayers of Vernon .
(for example - a civilian crime analyst for the area is charged 100% to Vernon - what percentage of the work s/b charged to the Province for work done outside the City of Vernon's jurisdiction.) We specifically excluded any discussion of replacing the RCMP with a civilian force.
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