No Decision Yet on RCMP Budget Boost
Prince George, B.C.- Prince George City Council has deferred the police request for a budget boost to the Finance and Audit committee.
The Prince George Detachment had asked to have the contract numbers increased, and the budget boosted to allow for the hiring of three officers next year, and two more in each of the following two years.
The budget enhancement would cost $481 thousand for three officers if they were on board for the full year. The increase, ( if approved) would boost the budget by .54%.
Instead of dealing with it at last night’s budget meeting, Council moved to shift the issue over to the Finance and Audit Committee where RCMP Superintendent Brown and Staff Sergeant Perry Smith can provide more information on the costs and possible savings.
“It’s too important for us to make a decision quickly” says Mayor Lyn Hall “I think we need to have that conversation with Superintendent Brown and Staff Sergeant Smith around policing requests that they have made but also about issues in the community that reflect back on the budget request.”
Councillor Brian Skakun says having the matter go back to Finance and Audit is a good move to find “The best value for the dollar”.
Councillor Murry Krause, says the issue “Is too important to deny it out of hand”.
The next finance and Audit meeting is set for December 14th. Chair of that committee is Councillor Garth Frizzell says it’s important to have the extra time to examine the request. Mayor Hall is hopeful a report and recommendation from Finance and Audit could be back to Council by the end of January.
The City doesn’t have to have its 2016 budget finalized until May.
Comments
I say Noooo…..3 = $481,000…does this include benefits???
We need our own POLICE force…..to free up rcmp so they can go watch for terrorists coming …..Baffin Isle..is good place for em….’
Wait till they put in Needle Park……
Superintendent Brown and Staff Sergeant Smith well know that we NEED a heck of a lot more money in the budget to get a handle on not only enforcement but the all consuming time it takes to do the work up to charges being laid, with Crown and Defense always wanting more information.
Before that comes the applications for search warrants and justification to detain someone, ad nauseum. Then the frustrations with politicians who don’t have a handle on the realities of the job and the costs to do it right.
I am frustrated, as a taxpayer who knows they need more manpower but we live in a naive world where folks just don’t get it.
Tragedy strikes California. 14 dead. Sad.
I don’t think they meant AK47’s, when Ben Franklin and the boys wrote, ” right to bear arms” I think they were single shot, gun powder and a lead ball.
no but they have the money to spend over $400, 000 to put in covered picnic tables in the park.
I guess we see where their priorities are and the betterment of the city as a whole isn’t it…
all these private little personal pet projects of our council that seem to be getting all the money.
I am ashamed of the fact I actually voted for some of them.
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