The City of Rossland will start socking away money for the day where it may have to pick up the lion’s share of policing costs.
Communities in BC are on the hook for 70 per cent of the cost of policing once they cross the 5,000 population mark.
Rossland’s population on the 2016 census was 3,700. But city councillor Chris Bowman says given the amount of development going on in the community, he expects to hit 5,000 within the next few years.
As a result, Bowman says council has agreed to start saving, although exact figures have not been determined.
“As much as we can move in there that is respectful of the community and our taxation just to get prepared,” he says. “At this point, we don’t know exactly how much.”
In recent years, Creston experienced something similar. The town passed the 5,000 threshold for the first time on the 2011 census and suddenly had a much larger policing bill.