To the editor,
Re: Council votes to reinforce city policing, July 18.
At the July 10 city council meeting, the mayor announced that during a recent in-camera meeting, council agreed to hire five more RCMP staff. Additional costs associated with this decision were said to be $719,000 per year.
I am not against the hiring of additional police staff, but I do wonder where the additional funding is to come from. Just a few months ago the city miraculously found a $700,000 surplus in the annual RCMP budget. This windfall was to be transferred into general revenue to help offset costs of the proposed events centre. Now, surprise, an additional $719,000 will be required annually to pay for the new RCMP staff.
Was enough money left in the RCMP budget to cover the new staffing levels? If not, there appear to be two options:
Transfer the diverted funds back into the RCMP budget, or increase property taxes.
Hopefully we will not be presented with the property tax option come budget time.
Allan Davidson, Nanaimo