There’s good news and not such good news.
In advance of budget decisions to be made by council starting later this month, the finance and audit standing committee received a report about Squamish policing from the RCMP on Jan 27.
The good news is overall crime was down by 11 per cent in Squamish in 2013 to 2014. Vehicle thefts were down 20 per cent, while bike thefts were down a whopping 58 per cent, according to Inspector Neil Cross, one of the three RCMP representatives who presented to the committee.
The bad news, at least from a financial standpoint for the district, is that the RCMP will likely be asking for more money this budget cycle.
For the 2015 to 2016 fiscal year the Squamish RCMP is anticipating a 0.9 per cent increase in total direct costs, which includes such things as salaries. An increase of 4.5 per cent is expected for indirect costs, which includes pensions, benefits, and administration costs, according to Brad Lanthier, manager of contract policing for the RCMP. The RCMP’s fiscal year runs
April 1 to March 31.
Lanthier said pension increases are a big reason for the expected 4.5 per cent increase in indirect costs in the coming year. The cost of pensions is forecast to go up by 16 per cent to $460,335 for the Squamish detachment
“I am not going to hide it, it is not a good-news story,” said Lanthier.
RCMP pensions were impacted by the global economic downturn and are determined by a three-person panel, according to Lanthier.
The cost for the salaries of the 23 officers in Squamish is expected to rise about 3.3 per cent from approximately $1,914,00 in 2014-2015 to about $1,977,000 for 2015-2016. This does not include the cost for overtime.
RCMP salaries are set nationally by a payboard.
An RCMP officer costs the district roughly about $168,000 a year, said Lanthier. That includes salary, benefits and overhead.
Squamish has had a detachment of 23 officers since 2009. The detachment has 17 constables who make between $50,000 and $82,000, three corporals who make between $86,000 and $90,000, two sergeants who earn between $95,000 and $100,000 and one staff sergeant who earns between $103,000 and $107,000.
Squamish has one officer for about every 761 Squamish residents and each officer carries a caseload of about 76 criminal code cases per officer. The provincial average for the RCMP is 60 cases per officer.
In addition to the criminal code cases, each officer also deals with another 75 per cent caseload that is non-criminal code cases, such as mental health calls or disturbances.
“Our folks are very busy compared to the other municipalities,” said Cross.
Squamish RCMP will also be requesting funds for a school liaison officer starting in the upcoming district budget, according to Cross.
The district had an RCMP funded school liaison for a few years starting in 2002, but funds ran out, said Cross. “We don’t have one currently and that will be part of the request going forward,” he said.
Funding support for the Lower Mainland centered Real Time Intelligence Centre (RTIC) is a new cost for the upcoming year as well. The RTIC is an information sharing centre used in the case of a major incident, such as a national security, according to Cross. The RCMP is the district’s single largest section in the budget, according to Councillor Doug Race, who chaired the committee meeting.
