CITY council decided far too quickly to spend $50,000 of local taxpayers’ money to fix something that’s not of its own making.
It involves a budget cut taking a Canadian Border Services Agency dog and handler from Prince Rupert and a vacant RCMP dog and handler position in Prince Rupert that’s paid for by the city there. That leaves just one RCMP dog and handler for the northwest based in Terrace. The fear is that this position will be moved to Prince Rupert in part to cover the loss of the border dog.
Part of the problem is a decision in Prince Rupert to spend its dog budget on a senior investigator instead.
As well, the Terrace dog position cost is covered by the province, leaving the city, which has the benefit of the service, with little or no say in what might happen.
The RCMP-crafted solution accepted by council is for both Prince Rupert and Terrace to cough up $50,000. Add that to the dog budget for Terrace and the RCMP reckons it can place dogs in both cities.
Wait a minute. Did someone at least ask why Prince Rupert wants an investigator instead of replacing a dog? Where’s the rationale here?
And what of the border dog? So much for security when it comes to the port at Prince Rupert.
Who knows what’s inside those containers rolling through Terrace.
It looks as if Terrace is the victim of a classic case of budget offloading. Speak up, mayor and council.