Province stepping in to cover RCMP contract increases: MLA Hunter

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Ryan Dahlman

By Trevor Busch
Commentator/Courier
editor@tabertimes.com

Alberta’s UCP government is temporarily freezing the amount rural municipalities are responsible for paying for front-line policing services in Alberta.

The province is responsible for providing policing services to municipal districts, counties and urban municipalities with populations less than 5,000. In response to rising rural crime, Alberta’s government announced increased funding for RCMP services in 2019 which helped create hundreds of additional RCMP positions across the province.

When these changes came into effect in 2020, the province also worked with Alberta Municipalities and Rural Municipalities of Alberta to create a shared funding model through the Police Funding Regulation. Now, due to higher costs from recent RCMP collective agreements, the cost for policing in these smaller communities will increase to 39 per cent, with no corresponding increase in the services provided. To assist municipalities with these new costs, Alberta’s government will pay the increase for one year and will begin engagement with them on their policing needs for the future.

“The problem is that the federal government negotiated with the RCMP for a contract that the federal government is not going to have to pay for,” said Taber-Warner MLA Grant Hunter. “And I thought that was absolutely ridiculous, that the provinces or municipalities were not at the table negotiating if we’re the ones that have to pay for this extra increase. And just to put that in perspective, they negotiated a 39 per cent increase to RCMP and we have to pay for it, and it was actually retroactive, too.”

Municipalities are preparing their budgets for 2025, and those served by the RCMP under the Provincial Police Service Agreement can continue to expect the same level of service without the additional costs for one year. While these costs are shared between municipalities and the province, the province will pay a higher proportion of the costs next fiscal year, a total of $27 million, so that municipalities’ costs remain stable while they determine how to cover the increases on a forward basis and what the best model of policing is for their community.

“And so we’ve had to scramble, and the municipalities have had to scramble,” said Hunter. “And so we thought, ‘Look, it’s not right what the federal government did, but we felt that the province had a better financial position to be able to help, versus the municipalities having to come up with the money themselves.’ And so that’s where that came from.”

The Police Funding Regulation introduced in 2020 was phased in over several years, with rural municipalities paying an increasing share of their policing costs each year for four years. Municipalities have been paying 30 per cent of front-line policing costs since fiscal year 2023-24. By sharing costs, the province has been able to afford the addition of many new RCMP police officers, programs and services over the past several years.

“I can tell you that the municipalities are not happy about it. The provinces are not happy about it,” said Hunter. “The federal government, again, negotiating a 39 per cent increase in RCMP wages without us being at the table when we’re the ones who have to pay for it, is unheard of, but that’s what’s happened there.”

The Police Funding Regulation has been in place for almost five years, and with the significant cost increases coming from the federal government, the province will undertake a review to determine what improvements may be needed. While the regulation was originally supposed to expire March 31, 2025, Alberta’s government has extended it by one year to March 31, 2026, which will enable the province and municipalities to have fulsome conversations about future policing needs and models.