WHEREAS towns, villages and summer villages with populations under 2,500 receive policing services at no direct cost under the Provincial Police Service Agreement;AND WHEREAS municipal districts, counties and Metis settlements also receive policing services at no direct cost under the Provincial Police Service Agreement;AND WHEREAS a significant financial hardship is being experienced by urban jurisdictions of 2,500 and greater population due to reduced provincial funding, increased costs, lagging tax bases and defaulting of programs to municipalities;AND WHEREAS the Municipal Government Act has already recognized that cities differ significantly from towns and other municipalities by means of providing cities with additional powers that are unavailable to other municipalities;AND WHEREAS the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties has invited the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association to participate in a joint member advisory committee to examine intermunicipal cost-sharing issues;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties work cooperatively with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association to develop a joint position on funding of policing services, based on the premise that every town, village, summer village, and rural municipality, regardless of population, should receive policing services at no direct cost under the Provincial Police Service Agreement.

During the past year, the County of Vermilion River No. 24 has been through two mediation processes and has become aware of the financial hardship being experienced by smaller urban municipalities. This resolution provides for all towns, villages and summer villages, and rural municipalities, to be treated the same while at the same time fostering a cooperative relationship between the two associations. Only cities would continue to be responsible for their own policing.Currently, all urban municipalities over 15,000 population must pay 90% of the policing costs with the other 10% being paid by the Province. Urban municipalities with populations between 2,500 and 15,000 pay 70% of policing costs. Urban municipalities with less than 2,500 population and rural municipalities pay 0%, with the Province covering all policing costs. Currently, the unconditional grant that replaced the Municipal Police Assistance Grant, is significantly less than what was received by urban municipalities prior to 1994. This Resolution complies with AUMA’s Protective Services Policy and a similar resolution is being presented by the Town of High Prairie to the AUMAs November 2001 Conference.

The AAMDC and its members have addressed the issue of policing costs on several occasions over the past decade; however, only one member resolution is still in effect (and it will lapse as of the Fall 2001 Convention).Resolution 12-96F, endorsed at the Fall 1996 Convention, calls for continued provision of policing services at no direct cost to rural municipalities. This resolution will cease to be in effect as of the Fall 2001 Convention.The AAMDC has developed a Position Statement on Policing Funding on behalf of our members. This Position Statement was originally devised in late 2000, in response to the provincial review of the Police Act, and calls for the following:- Continued provision of policing services at no direct cost to rural municipalities under the Provincial Policing Agreement;- Increasing the population threshold under the Provincial Policing Agreement to 5,000, so that all urban municipalities with populations less than 5,000 would receive policing services at no direct cost;- Implementation of a provincial grant of $10-15 per capita to those urban municipalities above the population threshold, to help offset the costs of providing policing service, and recognize the provincial interest in law enforcement.