The Kamloops RCMP Headquarters. (CFJC Today File Photo)

By Victor Kaisar

Rising Policing Costs

SILGA delegates unanimously support Kamloops resolution calling for changes to RCMP funding model

May 6, 2025 | 4:58 PM

KAMLOOPS — A resolution from the City of Kamloops calling for a new funding model for the RCMP was unanimously supported by delegates at last week’s Southern Interior Local Government Association (SILGA) conference.

It was presented by Kamloops Councillor Katie Neustaeter, who says municipalities have been forced to respond to “rapidly increasing police costs” that are out of their control.

“We have an archaic system for tax collection at the local level — that’s property taxes — and no other ability to generate funding, and yet these decisions are made above our head for a service that we have no influence over,” Neustaeter said.

“Its another prime example — perhaps the greatest example — of government downloading that happens onto municipalities.”

According to the City of Kamloops, policing costs account for a quarter of the 2025 operating budget.

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The City of Kamloops has to pay 90 per cent of operating costs for the RCMP, with the federal government picking up the remaining 10 per cent. That model applies to all B.C. municipalities with populations over 15,000 that use the RCMP as their local police force.

“The province doesn’t contribute at all and we have to see that change,” Neusaeter told CFJC Today. “It is a trifecta that makes up this agreement and yet the municipalities pick up the bulk of the costs, especially ones like ours that are over the population threshold.”

“It absolutely isn’t working for us, especially when you consider that we don’t have any influence over the equipment that is implemented. We think about body cameras and the cost to that. This has to be looked at and portioned out more fairly.”

With the support of SILGA delegates in hand, Neustaeter says this resolution will now be forwarded to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities for discussion at this September’s convention.

“We will ask for similar support from municipalities from across the province and I have no doubt that we will find it,” Neustaeter said.

“This is being echoed in every corner of our province right now and it’s the perfect time for the province and the federal government to listen and to understand that this is a weight that we cannot bear on their behalf.”