City of North Battleford Finance Director Margarita Pena at city council's meeting Monday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Forecast increases

North Battleford expected to see increase in policing costs

Oct 24, 2023 | 4:50 PM

There was “sobering news” for North Battleford city council Monday night when the finance director stated tax increases are anticipated due to a continued rise in RCMP contract costs.

City of North Battleford Finance Director Margarita Pena explained there could be about a two per cent increase for policing alone in the next taxation year and annually for the RCMP for the next few years.

“We are looking at a two per cent average increase for the mill rate for the next few years, or 1.5 [per cent]” she said.

“Then, later on in probably 2026 or 2027, it may just drop. A new proposed budget [for 2024] will be coming out next month. Then, we’ll be releasing some more information on this.”

Pena added she just wants to warn residents that there will be a tax increase, much of which will be driven by RCMP costs.

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“This is just the RCMP contract,” she said.

The city noted the RCMP have been without a contract since March 31, 2023. So, while those contract negotiations are ongoing with The National Police Federation, the city could end up seeing an increase as well to cover that retroactive pay. That is something ratepayers should be aware of as well.

The RCMP contract increases do not involve the city in the negotiations. As Pena stated, the city does not participate in any of this decision-making.

“It’s like anything in the city, we have a lot of cost pressure,” Mayor David Gillan said. “Our job as mayor and councillors is to totally review cost, and to make sure we are getting the best value for money.”

He stressed the city is “very happy” with its partnership with the RCMP.

“What we’re doing is we’re trying to say: okay, we have increased costs in every department,” Gillan said. “We say the same thing to all departments, which is: what are the options?… How do we maintain control of costs in the city, because we’re working for the collective, we work for everybody and trying to make sure we’re as efficient as possible for all taxpayers here.”

He said the city needs to look at exploring what options it has available to keep costs under control in North Battleford, in an effort to keep taxes reasonable.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow