By Lyonel Doherty
Oliver taxpayers will be on the hook for a $650,000 annual increase in RCMP costs when the Town exceeds 5,000 population.
“This is a lot of money for our taxpayers – a 46 per cent increase in municipal taxes,” said Chief Financial Officer Devon Wannop, who presented an RCMP cost analysis to council on Tuesday.
He stated if the Town surpasses 5,000 people, which is most likely in the 2022 census, Oliver would have to pay 70 per cent of the total RCMP costs. It currently pays 30 per cent.
As part of the Town’s strategic plan, council wants to determine the costs and a method to start saving for these costs.
“If we start saving (now), there will be smaller increases on a regular basis,” Wannop said, noting it won’t be a huge hit, especially for seniors on fixed incomes.
He said if the Town started saving in 2018, the taxes would be $84,000 per year, as opposed to $105,000 per year (7.5 per cent tax increase) if the saving plan started in 2019. That figure jumps to $142,000 if the saving strategy begins in 2020.
It was noted that a murder investigation would cost approximately $1 million, which would significantly add to the bill, which is why a five per cent contingency is built into the costing analysis.
Councillor Larry Schwartzenberger said he originally wanted to wait until the census confirmed that Oliver was over 5,000 people.
“We know with the Okanagan Correctional Centre the population is over 5,000 now, so there’s a really good chance we’ll be over it (at the next census).”
Wannop said if they don’t exceed the 5,000 mark, the Town will re-distribute the extra funds into other reserves.
Water councillor Rick Machial pointed out the overall tax increase would really be approximately 10 per cent (if we don’t start saving), not 46 per cent.
Wannop clarified by saying the 46 per cent would be on the municipal portion of people’s taxes. (The municipal portion of the taxes represent approximately 25 per cent of the total taxes the Town collects.)
Therefore, the 10 per cent (closer to 11.5 per cent) that Machial referred to would be if the increase was assessed over the total taxes collected from local ratepayers.
Wannop said municipalities that exceed 5,000 population have the option of forming their own independent police department, or they can contract out to an existing group, including the provincial RCMP service.
Council decided to bring the issue up for further discussion during budget talks. It will also invite the RCMP to appear as a delegation to answer questions.
