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Preamble:
WHEREAS the Government of Alberta (GOA) introduced the Police Funding Model (PFM) in 2019; and
WHEREAS the PFM requires urban municipalities with a population under 5,000 and all rural municipalities to pay a portion of the provincial policing costs associated with the Provincial Police Services Agreement; and
WHEREAS the GOA does not permit municipalities to designate the police levy as a requisition on their tax rate bylaw nor on their tax notices because policing is not identified under Section 326(1)a of the Municipal Government Act as a requisition, even though Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services issues an invoice for services which the municipality is required to pay; and
WHEREAS municipalities strive to be open and transparent to their ratepayers; and
WHEREAS municipalities want to make ratepayers aware that their property taxes are paying for policing services ;
Operative Clause:
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Government of Alberta allow municipalities to denote the collection of funds that cover the police funding model on taxation bylaws and tax notices by identifying the Police Funding Model payment as a requisition through the amendment of Section 326(1) of the Municipal Government Act.
Member Background:
The Government of Alberta implemented the Police Funding Regulation on April 1st, 2020. Commencing January 2021, each urban municipality with a population of 5,000 or less and all rural municipalities are now issued an invoice annually to pay for police services in their municipality. The formula was created by the Government of Alberta based on equalized assessment, population, crime severity, shadow population and detachment location, which are all used to calculate what portion each municipality would be required to pay for frontline policing costs. These frontline police servicing costs were set to increase annually commencing in 2021 when the municipal contribution equaled 10%, incrementally increasing to 30% by 2024.
It is the goal of rural municipalities to be transparent with ratepayers about what they are paying for police services and The M.D. of Spirit River has treated the Policing Invoice as a provincial requisition. The M.D. of Spirit River made a decision back in 2021 to show ratepayers what their contribution, through their taxes, was to police services and has therefore identified “policing” on the taxation bylaw and tax notices, similar to the education requisition and the Alberta Housing Act managing body requisition. However, Municipal Affairs continually requests that the M.D. cease acknowledging the policing invoice as a requisition in this way because it is not identified in the Municipal Government Act (MGA) as a requisition.
During the recent Municipal Audit Program, Municipal Affairs insisted that the tax rate bylaw and the tax notices remove this reference as “requisition” because it is not identified in the MGA as a requisition under Sec. 326(1).
Rural municipalities believe that ratepayers should be aware of what the Alberta Justice & Solicitor General requires municipalities to pay for frontline police services and therefore is seeking to have the MGA amended to include policing services identified as a requisition under section 326(1).
In 2020, the Government was presented with a resolution from the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (4-20F) requesting that the MGA be amended to include policing services as a requisition. The Government’s response to the request was that identifying the police services could create red tape for municipalities and greater administrative work to administer the levy. This suggestion is a fallacy; The M.D. was indicating the policing costs as a requisition and was directed by Municipal Affairs to stop because there was no legislative direction to do so. The M.D.’s actions were not an administrative “red tape” exercise but rather provided transparency as to what the policing costs were per tax roll. Municipalities are already identifying the school and Albera Housing requisitions on their Tax Rate Bylaws and Taxation Notices so to include one more would not require anything more of the municipalities.
Additionally, despite Municipal Affairs having reviewed the “Financial Sections” of the MGA in late 2021, to date the request to have section 326(1) amended to identify policing services as a requisition has not been done.
Ratepayers in municipalities across the province should know what portion of their taxes are going to protect them through the policing paid to the Government of Alberta.
RMA Background:
RMA has no active resolutions directly related to this issue.
Alberta Municipal Affairs
The Municipal Government Act requires municipalities to include all costs, including policing expenses, in their annual budgets. Through the budgeting process, municipalities communicate the costs of each municipal program and service to their residents and taxpayers, which could include a breakdown of the municipal tax rate.
Policing services costs are shared between the federal, provincial, and municipal governments. Municipalities are invoiced annually for their portion of the policing costs within their boundaries. The mechanism for collecting these funds is enshrined in statutory law. Policing costs are typically included in the municipal tax levy, which is established through the annual property tax rate bylaw and communicated to property owners through annual tax notices.
Unlike schools, seniors, or housing requisitions, municipalities are not authorized to consider police funding costs as a separate requisition in their tax rate bylaws or property tax notices. The Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Services administers the annual policing model and would be responsible for legislative amendments that could authorize municipalities to add policing costs as a requisition to their tax rate bylaws and property tax notices.
Development:
Resolution 4-24F calls for the Government of Alberta to legislate the ability of municipalities to list the PFM as a requisition on their tax notices and in their bylaws to promote transparency among rate payers and provide consistency in comparison to public disclosures of other required requisitions. The Municipal Affairs response indicates that the PFM cannot be listed as a requisition like schools, seniors, or housing requisitions and defers any comment on changing the PFM to a requisition to Public Safety and Emergency Services.
Unfortunately, the response does not adequately explain why this is the case or consider the challenges this causes municipalities in maintaining transparency at the local level. Given the complete lack of accountability and connection between PFM levies and levels of policing service, it is frustrating that the Government of Alberta does not even seem interested in working with RMA to help municipalities better explain to ratepayers how policing costs impact property taxes.
While the Municipal Affairs response indicates that this issue is best addressed by Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services, the rationale for this is not explained, particularly as the MGA includes requisitioning abilities for other services that are under the authority of external ministries. This resolution is assigned a status of Intent Not Met.
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