(image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

BUDGET CHANGES

Kamloops council votes to defer funding for 5 new Mounties until mid-year

Jan 21, 2025 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops’ proposed tax rate for 2025 became clearer at a Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday (Jan. 21), as councillors voted on a number of budget items, including additional legal fees and RCMP staffing. Entering the discussion, the city’s provisional tax rate was just above eight per cent.

The biggest question in front of council was to decide whether or not to continue with a previous council directive of hiring five new Mounties every year over a five-year time frame.

Five new RCMP officers costs the City of Kamloops $1.5 million, equivalent to an approximately 1 per cent tax increase. And while protective services is the biggest line item for the city, it equates to dollars per day.

“By my rough calculations, that means the average taxpayer would pay $2 per day to have 24/7 RCMP services in this town. That is what we are asking them to pay,” outlined Councillor Stephen Karpuk. “And to put it in dollars and cents, I would, for a toonie a day, be very happy to have all of those members there if I need them.”

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Council was split on the matter, voting 7-2 — with Reid Hamer-Jackson and Nancy Bepple opposed — to defer half of the funding. That means the city is still budgeting for five officers but beginning in July instead of January, equaling $750,000.

“Funding these positions I don’t think is going to solve our problems of street disorder. Again, [Community Safety Officers] aren’t being sent into drug busts, they are being sent in to move people along who are living rough on our streets, who need support, who need to be connected to services. And to me, that is our number one thing to triage,” said Councillor Katie Neustaeter.

While Councillor Mike O’Reilly voted for the motion, he did highlight his concern with whether more officers will help in the face of issues with the court system.

“Are they being as effective as they can for what we are wanting to see? That is where I’m very torn. I feel we can hire 500 more members and we are still not going to get the result we want based on ‘catch and release,'” said O’Reilly.

The question raised about the effectiveness of new members was rebutted by Karpuk.

“Because we are so inundated by other aspects, which, to your point, don’t seem to resolve what we are looking for, having some additional members who can do those other things might actually address, and that is what we have control on. If we are having foot patrols or bike patrols or traffic enforcement to get people off their cellphones, maybe that will make a difference, too, but we have to have those bodies,” responded Karpuk.

For his part, Hamer-Jackson was in favour of the full amount of additional officers, voting against the deferment.

“I think we are really risking our CSOs. Like I said, they can’t go into situations that we are dealing with in the city today. RCMP can,” said Hamer-Jackson. “And I don’t know what this council would look like if — here we are, number one crime capital, and we are going to defer having RCMP.”

The changes made on Tuesday leave the estimated tax rate at approximately 7.5 per cent. Council will still consider supplementary requests before finalizing the budget this spring.