Province must help pay for police, city council demands
Council says burden to pay for new officers should be on the legislature
Councillors sent the provincial government a cry for help on Wednesday, asking the legislature it pitch in for the police budget.
The Edmonton Police Commission requested $13 million to pay for dozens of extra officers to keep up with the city`s growth, on top of the 54 new hires that have already been approved.
In a contentious 7-6 vote Wednesday, councillors approved less than a quarter of the request — $2.4 million, enough to fund 35 new police officers.
They said if more officers are needed, the province will have to pay.
“This is the thing I feel I have to take to the legislature,” Mayor Don Iveson said.
He said Edmonton pays for 93 per cent of the cost for policing, while smaller towns are more heavily subsidized by the provincial government.
“This is why city council is just grinding on this and so frustrated,” he said. “There is a massive inequity in Alberta for the funding of police in this province and that needs to be addressed.”
He said council cannot continue to carry the burden, when so many people come to the city from elsewhere in the region.
Coun. Ben Henderson said it may be naive to expect the province to come to the rescue anytime soon, but council needed to take action.
He said the city funds police more than anything else, and every year the costs go up as the city grows.
“I get the desire from people in this city to want to make sure we have a good police force, but I worry that we are continually doing that at the cost and expense of other things that are just as important to people,” Henderson said.
Council’s decision not to fund all the new officer positions limits the project tax increase significantly, from a possible 6.7 per cent down to roughly 6 per cent.
Council will finish debating the 2015 operating budget this week.