Why some N.B. municipalities could foot the bill for two police forces

After the amalgamation of 90 Local Service Districts and towns in New Brunswick, many municipalities have been left with both the RCMP and local police services.

In Woodstock, where amalgamation saw its population balloon to more than 10,000, the town’s mayor says council must now wait and see how much keeping the two forces will cost.

“2023 will be a year to see what our actual true costs are and get some actuals on each of the line items and then adjust on a go-forward basis,” said Arthur Slipp. “Currently, policing is the largest component of our budget.”

Slipp says having a municipal force is good for officer retention, as members are generally local, but some residents say they’re concerned about the cost of maintaining two police forces.

"This time, I think I'll wait a while to see what takes place, cost number one,” said resident Peter Clarke. “I mean, who's going to pay for it? RCMP? Town police? The provincial police we had at one time didn't work. I think it's necessary to sit back for a while, see how the election goes and go from there.”

The Liberal critic for local governance says there is a cost to municipal reform.

“It's unfortunate that things are starting to unfold in the middle of an election and there's no representation,” said Jacques LeBlanc. “People are going to be basically stuck with an additional cost of RCMP and municipal protection.”

In a statement to CTV News, Justice and Public Safety Minister Kris Austin said, “We will work with local governments in 2023 to discuss how boundary changes are impacting their policing services and how those changes will impact their 2024 policing costs."

Some municipalities, like the Town of Grand Falls, expect the price of policing to increase by over $1 million.