An Alberta municipality says it wants to tell taxpayers how much of their taxes are being spent on police costs, but Municipal Affairs is contesting its disclosure.

Nick van Rootselaar, Spirit River’s deputy MD, said his administration has tried to be upfront with residents about the costs and reasons for the mill rate adjustments.

Like many municipalities, policing is a large and growing expense for Spirit River.

van Rootselaar said staff showed the police invoice as a requisition on tax status and tax notices, “and got their fingers wrapped by Municipal Affairs for doing so”.

The definition of a requisition in the Municipal Government Act includes sums to be paid in connection with education, housing and the assessment of industrial property.

Since the police is not named in the Act, Municipal Affairs says the MD cannot list the police as a requisition.

“They say it creates more red tape. Well, it’s just a click of a button for our people to do it, and we’d like to continue to do that,” van Rootselaar said at the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) convention on Tuesday. .

MD Spirit River presented a resolution at the convention calling on the RMA advocate in the province to amend the sections of the MGA necessary to designate the Police Funding Model as a requisition.

The text of the resolution notes that under the Provincial Police Funding Regulations introduced in 2020, rural municipalities and towns with fewer than 5,000 residents are now billed by the province for the cost of frontline policing.

The municipal portion of this bill was initially set at 10 percent, but gradually increased to 30 percent.

“Municipal ratepayers across the province should know what portion of their taxes will be protected by policing paid to the Government of Alberta,” the resolution reads.

Temporary freeze on police costs

The current police funding agreement between the province and municipalities will expire in 2025.

Because of the increased price for services related to the RCMP’s new collective bargaining agreement, smaller municipalities were looking at a sudden 39 per cent increase in the price of policing when the bylaw was renewed on March 1.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver told officials gathered at the RMA conference that the province will freeze police costs for a year and extend current regulations until 2026.

“We recognize that any increase would be challenging, so that’s why we’re temporarily adjusting the cost-sharing formula,” McIver said.

According to the police funding regulation, municipalities had to pay $69.8 million this year.

While the actual cost of policing — without changes to services provided — will be $27 million more in 2025, McIver said the province will temporarily cover that additional expense.

“With costs frozen for a year, we look forward to a comprehensive review of the police funding model with our municipal partners. During our review, we will carefully consider all factors to ensure we provide an updated funding model that is sustainable,” McIver. said.

The Spirit River is approximately 430 kilometers northeast of Edmonton.