B.C. census review may bump count over threshold Laura [email protected]
A provincial government shift in census policies could end up costing the District of Squamish $600,000.
What looked like a close call for local taxpayers who last year appeared to dodge over half a million dollars in RCMP costs may turn out to have been little more than a temporary relief.
Last spring, the national Statistics Canada census count determined there were 14,949 residents in Squamish. By narrowly ducking the 15,000 mark, the municipality was held responsible for 70 per cent of its police services rather than the 90 per cent larger communities cover.
Staying below the threshold by a mere 51 heads was saving the district $600,000 per year in RCMP costs.But the district recently learned the provincial government, which determines policing costs, would be basing its numbers on the final census count rather than preliminary count used in the past.
Mayor Ian Sutherland said this could push the town into a new category."Generally speaking it grows," he said of the final census count. "Sometimes they find they didn't count a certain street."The district won't know until the fall whether the count has turned up an extra 51 residents. If so, the higher policing costs would strike the budget in April 2009 rather than providing a five-year respite until the next national census.
There are a few ways council could offset the costs, said Sutherland."The council at that time could reduce the number of officers, increase taxes, or cut the budget somewhere else."He didn't recommend making any cuts to police services, noting officers are already spread thin in town.If the extra money came directly from the pockets of taxpayers, it would mean a five per cent tax increase, he said.
And if the population continues to snowball, Sutherland said the larger tax base could softened the blow, potentially bringing the tax hike down to three per cent for police services. "The simple fact is you live in a community, you pay the taxes in the community."
However crossing a new population marker could also have some positive outcomes on terms of provincial and federal funding, said Sutherland.
"There are certainly some provincial programs that are based on population, including traffic fine revenue sharing and the provincial small grant program."Sutherland said there is pressure on the province to make more programs use population as a criterion.
