Skip to content

Town of Stettler joins AUMA’s call for more equitable police funding

Letter will be written to local MLA supporting a new police funding model
10644356_web1_171108-STI-M-Stettler-Town-Council-CYMK
Stettler Town Council & Administration 2017-2021 (Black Press)

The Town of Stettler will write a letter to the local MLA calling for equitable police funding.

During their last meeting on February 6th, councillors looked at how the police system is funded, and what the Alberta Urban Municipality Association is proposing.

Discussions around a new police funding model in Alberta have been ongoing since 2010. Currently, policing costs are only paid by municipalities with populations over 5000 people.

This means that many small communities, M.D’s and counties are exempt from these costs. This was an issue addressed during the local municipal debates last October as to why the Town of Stettler pays for policing, when the County does not. It should be noted that $101,423 is provided between the County of Stettler and Clearview Public Schools to the Town, but this is specifically for the School Resource Officer.

In comparison, municipalities with between 5,000 and 15,000 people pay 70% of their policing costs, while the federal government covers 30%. As for communities over 15,000 people, municipalities pay 90% of the costs, while the feds chip in 10%.

To help offset this, the Alberta Government provides a Municipal Police Assistance Grant (MPAG), but there have been chronic shortfalls over the years according to the AUMA, as the program has not kept pace with growing populations and an increasing crime rate.

The AUMA documents cite a 23.3% increase in municipal policing costs between 2008 and 2016, while MPAG grants have gone up 15.8% in that time. The RCMP contract listed in the Town of Stettler agenda is budgeted at $1,114,926. Of this, $345,984 is subsidized through the Municipal Police Assistance Grant.

The AUMA is calling for police funding to be based on population rates and municipal property assessment figures. Under such a model, the AUMA estimates that $30 to $35 million dollars could be generated that could be invested into crime prevention and response measures.

Other initiatives the AUMA are calling for around police funding include: requiring services beyond the standard level to be funded by the jurisdiction asking for them, encouraging regional policing collaboration and ensuring that revenues from fines stay in the communities they were issued in.



landin.chambers@stettlerindependent.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter