City looks to reduce policing costs

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City Council has vowed to fight increasing policing costs according to Mayor Sharie Minions.

RCMP costs account for 30% of the entire municipal budget and the city is looking for ways to decrease the amount paid, while the police push for more money to be spent.

Mayor Minions said one obvious strategy is to collect more from regional district taxpayers.

“In the City of Port Alberni the average taxpayer pays $700 a year towards RCMP and average taxpayers who live in the rural area pay $60-$80 a year so 10 times it being paid in the city, so another thing that doesn’t have an easy solution, but we’ve been advocating to change for years and we’re going to continue at work,” she said.

Minions said Port Alberni has the second-highest cost of policing per capita in the province, and has now been hit with a $1.2 million bill for retroactive salary increases in the latest collective agreement.

Port Alberni also has the second highest ratio of officers to residents in BC at 1:574 people. The provincial average for cities over 15,000 is 1:785