Turner Valley Mayor Barry Crane's a little hot under the collar with word the UCP government is looking at cutting policing costs for towns with smaller populations.

Right now Alberta municipalities with populations under 5,000 people have their tab for the RCMP picked up 100 per cent by the Province.

But documents released this week by the opposition NDP, show the government is looking to cut all or some of that funding as a cost saving measure, which those municipalities would in turn have to pass on to residents through increased property taxes.

Crane says it's a bad idea.

"Small municipalities can not. And I mean can not! Afford to take this kind of a tax burden on top of the infrastructure that we need to repair and ongoing issues that come up in small communities. This would just be another cost that's downloaded onto our backs with zero benefit, because we're getting the service right now."

Crane, who's town falls under that threshold says the NDP is right when they say it'll add hundreds of dollars to municipal tax bills as local government's try to make up the cost.

So anywhere from $100 and change to $400 (per year), potentially, per taxpayer would go on the bill. And that is not a cost, in my opinion, individual households should be flipping."

Crane says he'll raise the issue with provincial officials at next week's Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) Conference in Edmonton.

 

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