The Town of Barrhead will split half the cost of putting a new roof on the Barrhead RCMP detachment building, which is owned by the municipality.
After an in-camera session at their July 10 meeting, town councillors passed a motion to proceed with the complete roof replacement project, at a cost of no more than $145,000.
As noted, the RCMP will pay for half of the project, while the town will fund the rest out of its capital reserves.
Town CAO Martin Taylor said the municipality had its own police detachment “many, many moons ago,” but at some point they were replaced by the RCMP. Nonetheless, the town has retained ownership of the building.
Taylor indicated that the RCMP had an inspection done of the building and the motion was based on the report from that inspection, which council reviewed.
However, it’s been known for some time that the roof is approaching the end of its life cycle.
“It’s been on the books for a while; it’s not a surprise to us. We’ve known this day was coming,” said Taylor.
He said there had been some patching done on the roof, but at the end of the day, it’s a 30 to 40-year-old building.
He noted that at one point, they had intended to do a large renovation of the building, but the RCMP opted not to go ahead because they were looking for a new location.
Since they know the RCMP will be in the building for some time, Taylor said, “as good landlords, we need to replace the roof … We’re fortunate that the RCMP is picking up 50 per cent of the tab.”
Policing costs
While the Town of Barrhead is the landlord for the Barrhead RCMP, it should be noted that, unlike Westlock, Barrhead is not in the position of having to fund a portion of policing costs.
Currently, communities with under 5,000 people do not have to subsidize their local RCMP detachment’s operations, which is shouldered by the province and federal governmenton on a 70/30 basis. But if a community is even one person over the 5,000 population threshold, they must pay for their own policing.
The Town of Westlock’s population was counted at just over 5,000 in the 2016 federal census, a 5.1 per cent growth from the 2011 census.
As a result, they now have to fund the RCMP to the tune of $476,180, not including a provincial grant and revenue from fees.
Luckily, the Town of Barrhead came in at 4,576 residents in the 2016 census, but it’s something administration is watching.
“We’re mindful of that, because that’s a very expensive tab,” Taylor said.
