Town of Coaldale sign. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Coaldale mayor says town overcharged for RCMP services

May 17, 2022 | 11:58 AM

COALDALE, AB – Officials at the Town of Coaldale are trying to change a designation that makes them pay an additional $500,000 every year for policing services.

Mayor Jack Van Rijn says the town is currently subject to the “New Entrant Guidelines” (NEG) for RCMP, which he feels should not be applied to Coaldale.

He explains the NEG requires that the municipality pay for 100% of the cost for RCMP. Other communities with a population between 5,000 and 14,999 only have to cover 70% of the bill, while the federal government picks up the other 30%.

Van Rijn adds that Coaldale is the only community in Canada in that population group that pays the full RCMP cost.

The current RCMP contract with Coaldale was signed in 2016, at which time the NEG was applied.

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Van Rijn, however, asserts that Coaldale should not be considered a new entrant because it had already been policed by RCMP.

Town of Coaldale Chief Administrative Officer, Kalen Hastings, went to the Galt Museum and Archives and found evidence that, although Coaldale did not have a full-time police officer or detachment of its own until 1954, RCMP were regularly called upon between 1915 and 1954.

Van Rijn says officials at the RCMP Alberta Headquarters agree with the town’s position given the historical context, but the national agency does not agree.

In 2015, prior to signing the current RCMP contract, Hastings and then-mayor Kim Craig went to Ottawa to discuss the proposed deal. Van Rijn says they were told by staffers at the time that the town would qualify for the 70%-30% payment structure. Since the Liberals came into power in the 2015 federal election, Van Rijn claims that the federal government changed its position and has been unwilling to budge.

Considering how much money Coaldale pays for RCMP services, the mayor believes that amending the NEG condition is of vital importance going forward.

“For a community of just under 9,000 people, $500,000 a year is the equivalent of a seven percent tax hike,” says Van Rijn. “With that $500,000, we have residents that are in need of a new swimming pool, we are in need of a second sheet of ice, and we have roads to repair, sidewalks to build. So that is a considerable amount of money.”

Van Rijn recently brought the matter up to Cardston-Taber-Warner MLA Grant Hunter. Hunter spoke with Justice Minister Tyler Shandro in the Alberta legislature.

Shandro agreed with the assertion that the Town of Coaldale is being treated unfairly when it comes to RCMP costs and announced his intentions to address it.

“I plan to, with and through the member’s advocacy, plan to raise this issue with the Minister of Public Safety Canada to urge the federal government to reverse this unfair policy and how it’s being attributed to the Town of Coaldale,” says Shandro.

“We’re very appreciative of our local MLA stepping in to give us a hand in trying to resolve this, and the fact that he reached out to the Minister of Justice and our Solicitor General, we’re able to facilitate a meeting within four or five days to get this process started, to get this resolved,” adds Van Rijn.

Shandro and Hunter also talked about their beliefs that Coaldale would be better served by the proposed Alberta Provincial Police Service. Van Rijn agreed with his provincial counterparts.

“Personally, I feel that the provincial government would do a far better job for us,” says Van Rijn. “This is so frustrating that we cannot get our federal counterparts to work with our municipality to get this rectified. The fact that the province is willing to step in and try and get this resolved speaks volumes for me about their care and concern for their municipalities.”

Officials at the Town of Coaldale will work to submit documents to the Alberta Ministry of Justice. There is currently no timeline on when the municipality might get a decision from the federal government on the NEG condition.