Mayors of 10 southern Vancouver Island municipalities have written an open letter to Public Safety and Solicitor Minister Garry Begg in a last ditch effort to avoid additional costs tied to police dispatch services.
This spring, the BC government’s decision takes effect and will put more onus on municipalities to take on more of the brunt of these costs.
“Starting April 1, 2025, this decision will impose a significant financial burden, translating to a minimum property tax increase of between 2.7% and 6% for each municipality,” the mayors wrote in this letter.
“This is untenable and unacceptable unless these costs are applied equally across British Columbia, phased in appropriately, and accompanied by demonstrable value from E-Comm’s dispatch services.”
The mayors say that at the 2024 Union of BC Municipalities convention, former minister Mike Farnworth implied that their concerns would be addressed and they would not face the additional costs in 2025.
Despite Farnworth’s assurances, the South Island municipalities say they now find themselves confronting the same unresolved issues.
These mayors say that historically, South Island municipalities policed by the RCMP received dispatch services through an Operational Communications Centre (OCC) in the West Shore.
The costs were fully covered under a 70/30 split funding model between the Province and the federal government.
Then in 2014, the Province brought in a centralized service provider, E-Comm.
These South Island mayors say they were not consulted in this transition and were unaware of the financial repercussions that would follow.
They say the original funding model was to remain unchanged, and was confirmed as such.
“There was no discussion during this period of time around any changes to the funding model for telecommunications,” said the Assistant Deputy Minister and Director of Police Services in a letter to the Municipality of North Cowichan.
“At the time, the RCMP did not raise cost implications as a forthcoming issue when the service provider changed. Both the Province and RCMP Westshore were under the impression that the provision of South Island police dispatch services would continue to be provided at the 70/30 Provincial/Federal cost share.”
Since 2021, the 10 South Island municipalities have been pushing back against this “inequitable cost downloading,” which was successfully delayed as a result of their efforts.
In the open letter to Minister Begg, the mayors claim that these costs and the subsequent property tax increases that will result from them will compound financial pressures from inflation.
Additional pressures faced by these municipalities are aging infrastructure, increased service expectations and new provincial mandates around housing.
Ultimately, the mayors’ requests are that the Province take on the spending for E-Comm services, address funding inequities and change the funding model to be less burdensome.
“As we finalize our 2025 budgets, this looming download creates an unjust and inequitable financial burden on our communities and property taxpayers,” wrote the mayors in their open letter.
“The Province has the means to rectify this inequity and support our requests. We respectfully assert that these downloaded costs are unacceptable without implementing the above measures.”
The 10 municipalities whose mayors signed this open letter were those of Colwood, Duncan, Ladysmith, Langford, Metchosin, North Cowichan, North Saanich, Sidney, Sooke and View Royal.
Notably missing from this list were the mayors of Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay and Esquimalt.
