Osoyoos faces huge policing cost hike after population tops magic 5000 mark

By ROY WOOD

The town Osoyoos will need to find hundreds of thousands of extra dollars per year after its population crested the crucial 5,000 mark, triggering a more than doubling of policing costs. “Thank God we haven’t passed the budget, because we may have to make a few adjustments to our budget for this year,” Mayor Sue McKortoff said in an interview today. The mayor said the town is still gathering information. A delegation from the RCMP will address council on February 20. “Poor old (CAO) Barry (Romanko) is on holidays and he’s spending his time on his cell phone dealing with this. We’re just not sure what’s going to happen,” she said.

According to national census information released this week, the population of Osoyoos increased to 5,085 in 2016 from 4,845 in 2011. Under an agreement with the province, towns with populations under 5,000 are required to pay just 30 per cent of the policing contract with the RCMP. Jurisdictions with 5,000 or more residents must pay 70 per cent. Such a town would have the option of contracting with police force other than the Mounties or creating its own force. Neither of those options seems feasible for Osoyoos. According to McKortoff, the 30-per-cent annual share for the town was $387,000 last year. Assuming the same total cost, that number would jump to $903,000 under the 70-per-cent share.

The new policing contract goes into effect on April 1. For the three fiscal quarters under the new payment plan, the town faces a hit of $387,000 for this year. It could be cushioned somewhat by funds the town has put aside since the last census. McKortoff said that while she was surprised at the population increase, the town has been preparing for it. “We really didn’t think, due to our school crisis and so on … that we were going to have this much of an increase. “However, the town is prepared and over the past five years we’ve been putting money into reserves. … We have $223,000 in that account to help tide us over for the first year,” she said.

Meanwhile in Oliver, where the population stayed just under 5,000, Mayor Ron Hovanes is breathing easier but contemplating the need to build a reserve against the inevitable. “It’s pretty sure that by the next census … that we’re probably going to go over 5,000,” he said. “There’s a strong argument to be made … to start raising taxes now so that we know, five years from now, if we have to raise taxes by something crazy, like 40 per cent, we’re already half way there.”
Attempting to inject some levity into the difficult situation, McKortoff suggested with a chuckle, “We need everyone out picking up pop bottles and that sort of thing so we can make a little extra money.