Municipalities don’t subsidize rural policing: province

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This article was published 26/06/2020 (1767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While defunding police may be a possibility for large urban centres, it turns it rural municipalities couldn’t even if they wanted to.

Rural municipalities pay zero municipal tax for policing, but “urban municipalities” pay thousands of dollars. An “urban municipality” is defined in the Police Services Act as having over 750 people, and they are required to provide police services.

Policing expenses can be a large municipal budget item, although such expenses are off-set by provincial urban policing grants.

2019 policing expenses to Steinbach were about $2.7 million. Steinbach’s 2019 urban policing grant was about $1.8 million, and municipal tax paid for the rest of the expenses.

Both RCMP from detachments in Steinbach and St. Pierre do some degree of police work in the RM of Hanover, according to Hanover Reeve Stan Toews.

When asked if municipal tax money was subsidizing rural policing, a provincial spokesperson said that wasn’t the case.

Urban municipalities are only responsible for costs associated with providing police services in their municipality, according to the spokesperson.

As Hanover CAO Derek Decru told The Carillon last week, the province pays for Hanover policing costs. The provincial spokesperson said Manitoba provides policing services for RMs through the Provincial Police Services Agreement, which is the agreement Manitoba has with Canada to have the RCMP act as the provincial police service.

RMs and urban municipalities with less than 750 people can establish their own police force, but in the absence of such an agreement, the province becomes responsible for policing, as opposed to the municipality.

The Steinbach RCMP detachment, according to Staff Sgt. Harold Laninga, has both a provincial contract and a municipal contract. The latter is paid for by City of Steinbach taxpayers, and the respective officers, of which there are 16, are assigned to the city, Laninga said.

There are nine officers at the detachment under the PPSA, Laninga said. The rural policing area includes the RMs of Hanover, La Broquerie, Ste-Anne, Tache and Reynolds. Training is the same for officers under both contracts, as would be duties for the most part, Laninga said.

“We’re making sure city workers are assigned to conduct work within the city,” Laninga said, adding there is some degree of crossover during emergencies, as per the contract.

An advantage for the city under the arrangement, Laninga said, is a five-person traffic unit and a dog funded by the province.

The province is also responsible for providing police services to any other part of Manitoba that is not a municipality.

Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador have their own provincial police forces that aren’t the RCMP, while Alberta politicians have recently considered adopting a provincial police force.

The provincial government has control over which municipalities pay for RCMP through municipal taxes and which don’t, the spokesperson said.

“In an effort to establish a policing structure that is equitable, fair, and efficient,” the spokesperson said, the province is currently conducting a review of the Police Services Act and will be reviewing the structure of policing.