The Government of Alberta is temporarily freezing the amount rural municipalities are responsible for paying through the Police Funding Model for front-line policing services in Alberta.
The Police Funding Regulation introduced the Police Funding Model (PFM), which was phased in over several years. Rural municipalities that receive policing services under the Provincial Police Services Agreement (PPSA) paid an increasing share of their policing costs each year, reaching 30% in the 2023-24 fiscal year. The initial funding model was based on 2018 costs to provide more certainty as to the cost incurred by each municipality would be each year.
While the regulation was originally set to expire March 31, 2025, the Government of Alberta has extended it by one year to March 31, 2026. This means that municipalities will continue paying the same 30% towards front-line policing costs that they did in the previous year. This freeze is intended to allow time for the province to engage municipalities about future policing needs and models, and potential changes to the PFM. At this point, no information is available about the engagement process.
According to the Government of Alberta, after 2024-25, the municipal share will be required to be based on current policing costs, resulting in a proposed 39 per cent increase in costs for municipalities. RMA plans to consider this assumed cost increase for the new version of the PFM when developing positions during the engagement process.
RMA recently conducted a survey to better understand member experiences with the PFM in advance of the upcoming engagement process. Key findings have been summarized in a What We Heard Report. The RMA is continuing to explore the PFM’s impact on rural municipalities and will provide more information to members in the coming months.
Kallie Wischoff
Policy Advisor
825.319.2245
kallie@RMAlberta.com
Wyatt Skovron
General Manager of Policy & Advocacy
780.955.4096
wyatt@RMAlberta.com