RCMP Per Capita Rate
Year: 2019
Resolution
Whereas most Saskatchewan municipalities with populations under 5,000 use RCMP services contracted by the Government of Saskatchewan; and
Whereas the Government of Saskatchewan, through the Ministry Justice, assesses a portion of the cost of this service to municipalities through The Police Act, 1990; and
Whereas the Ministry of Justice uses a two-tier system of assessing cost, in which municipalities with detachments pay a higher per capita cost than municipalities without detachments;
Therefore be it resolved that the SUMA advocate the provincial Ministry of Justice to have RCMP service costs assessed at a per capita rate that is fair for all municipalities (urban and rural) that fall under the provincial policing contract.
Background
The present per capita system, where municipalities with an RCMP detachment are charged a higher per capita rate than those without, was implemented when RCMP members were still required to reside in their detachment municipality. This requirement is no longer in place, making the larger per capita rate unfair for municipalities with detachments.
As policing costs increase the gap between detachment and non-detachment municipalities grows, because increases are percentage-based. Currently, there is a $28.43 per capita gap, but using a forecast of five per cent annual increases, that gap will grow to $46.13 per capita in 10 years.
Carnduff is not asking for a single per capita rate, but for an adjustment to be made to shrink the gap in the current price structure.
2019-04
Provincial Response
As Minister of Corrections and Policing, it is my responsibility to promote adequate and effective policing in the province. We recognize that SUMA is the collective voice of urban government in Saskatchewan so we were very interested in the result of the Town of Carnduff RCMP per capita rate resolution. I want to assure you we will continue to work with the SUMA-SARM Joint Task Force on Policing to address this issue.
