A surplus of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in the RCMP budget may be frustrating but unavoidable, Mayor Sean Bujtas told council April 22 in comparing what the city wanted to spend to what it actually spent last year.
The problem, he said, rests with how many officers the detachment employs as opposed to how many the city wants to employ.
Last year saw the detachment running with a high staffing vacancy rate so that more money remained unspent.
“This is just really got nothing to do with us. We have no choice but to budget for what we want. But then we tax the taxpayer and not deliver the service. So I find that a bit frustrating,” Bujtas said.
“But unfortunately it’s the confines we have to work in to try and get ourselves to those (officer) levels and that’s just something we have to continue to lobby government to try and get ourselves to the service levels we’re wanting to give to residents.”
Coun. Sarah Zimmerman added some context in asking what the unspent $740,000 in RCMP salaries meant to the overall city budget.
“Four per cent,” responded Bujtas.
And, at four per cent, that is just under half of the 8.83 per cent property tax hike for 2024.
Coun. Brian Downie joined the discussion in pointing out that the entire projected surplus from unspent 2023 budget allocations amounting to $3.358 million is high.
“I think the reality of our financing is that this is a lot of money and recognizing that this is taxpayer money,” he said.
“We’ve raised significant taxes over the last several years and I think we should be drawing down the surplus (to) something less,” Downie added.
He noted the city will soon be receiving a portion of the $50 million a year for five years stemming from the Northwest B.C. Resource Benefits Alliance agreement reached with the provincial government earlier this year.
City financing director Lori Greenlaw, who presented the projected 2023 surplus to council, noted the provincial financial officers association recommends having two months of operating expenditures on hand should there be emergencies or other needs.
“This would be close to $4 million to have in surplus based on that,” she said.
Also contributing to the 2023 projected surplus was the return of $500,000 that was to be spent on remedial work at the closed city landfill.