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RCMP costs to be lobbying focus for municipalities

Local governments not involved in contract negotiations but will pay most of the bill

Municipal officials are pushing hard for meetings with their federal and provincial counterparts to address rapidly increasing RCMP costs.

Delegates at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities meeting in Whistler last week passed a resolution to aggressively lobby the provincial and federal governments over escalating police costs to local communities.

In addition to costs, municipal leaders are pushing for increased accountability from the RCMP.

The UBCM resolution stated that a series of meetings be organized "as soon as possible" involving federal cabinet representatives, provincial cabinet representatives, the B.C. caucus and local governments.

There is no guarantee that these efforts will be successful. The UBCM has no authority or law-making abilities. Rather, it's a policy-setting body that acts as that common voice for all B.C. municipalities.

"I'm not that optimistic that we're going to get everything that we'd like to have," said Peter Fassbender, mayor of Langley and co-chair of the RCMP Lower Mainland District Mayors' Forum, in an update to delegates on the status of contract negotiations. "But if we win on a couple of the key elements, even some of those cost drivers that aren't directly a part of the (cost-sharing) formula, that will be money in the pockets of local government to put in to local services."

The RCMP contract negotiations were a hot topic at last week's convention. Policing costs are one of the largest issues facing municipal budgets across the province. There's province-wide concern that the federal government will download further costs onto municipalities. Aside from a possible cost-sharing formula leaning more heavily on the municipalities, other expenses may include footing legal fees for defence in civil court and new officer equipment.

"What the feds are saying, to put it in a nutshell, if you had your own provincial police force you would be paying for all of those things, so therefore we think you should be paying for them in these new contract negotiations," Fassbender said. He noted that the provinces and the territories have rejected these proposals in their discussions with the federal government.

A second UBCM resolution was endorsed last Thursday relating to the specific costs of RCMP self-monitoring and defense in court. The delegates voted to lobby the provincial government so none of those costs fall to the municipalities.

"(The UBCM is) a partner with the provincial government, and that means we're working with them to negotiate with the feds," Fassbender said. "That doesn't mean that we agree with them but we are partners, which means we have to put pressure off the federal government."

At the end of the day, he said, the UBCM is looking to be treated as equal partners with the provincial government, so they can have meaningful input into the decision making process.

This is not the case at present. There are no municipal representatives taking part in the contract negotiations between the provinces and the federal government. Yet, the decisions reached will affect local governments' finances more than senior governments'.

"Too often we're told here's a new increase, it comes in the form of a letter and there's no background on that," Fassbender said. He added that local governments want to know where the increase is coming from so they can decide whether or not it's justified.

The federal government has approved the continuation of the current formula and is not interested in changing it in favour of local governments, despite the province's proposition to move it to 70/30 cost sharing for larger communities like Surrey.

Under the current contract, larger communities like Surrey pay 90 per cent of policing costs. Whistler pays 70 per cent of policing costs, with 30 per cent paid for through government subsidies.

The contract being negotiated is for a 20-year term, which is too long for some communities. The UBCM is asking that the contracts be subject to five-year formal reviews and that they include opt-out provisions if a municipality isn't satisfied with the RCMP's service.

The federal government is negotiating new contracts for all provinces at the same time. Because B.C. represents about 30 per cent of the total RCMP strength in the country, more than any other province, it has taken the lead on the issue at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Fassbender has been involved in the talks amongst provinces at the FCM level and said he's been frustrated at the slow pace of the negotiations, including how long it has taken for the provinces and territories to agree on an issue. And then progress stalls again once the federal government walks into the talks.

"I noticed that PEI has a totally different list of issues than B.C., and yet they all have to come to an agreement around the table," he said. "That's not an easy thing to accomplish, as far as I've seen."

The current RCMP contract expires on March 31, 2012. If a new contract is not reached by then, the terms of the current contract will continue until a new deal is reached.

"I'm not sure that's in our best interest to continue that for too long because there are some significant wins in the current negotiations where we would have more say, more input, more involvement and more opportunity to impact the day-to-day relationships on a lot of those cost drivers," Fassbender said.

These "wins" include an ongoing federal-reviewed contract committee that will hear municipal input. Currently, no municipal representatives have been invited to the contract negotiations between the federal and provincial governments. The feds have also agreed to lessen the cost-sharing formula for the integrated RCMP teams, such as homicide and gang units.

The integrated teams in particular have been a bone of contention for some smaller communities that don't use these services but are forced to pay for them.

"When these integrated teams were first proposed, that was our original suggestion to them, that this was something that was questionable to include Whistler in that catchments area for the Lower Mainland, given that we're unlikely to use these services," said Mayor Ken Melamed. "It's more reasonable to lump us with the rural communities that don't participate."

The Resort Municipality of Whistler had no choice in the province's decisions to include Whistler in the Lower Mainland group that uses and pays for integrated teams.

Melamed said council will have to wait and see how any savings will impact Whistler's budget, but added "any reduction will be welcome."