(Submitted photo)

By Alison Sandstrom

Pricing priorities

Dionne confident residents will support new tax for more police

Apr 9, 2021 | 1:31 PM

Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne is confident a proposal for a new tax to fund four additional police officers will be well received by the public, saying it treats all taxpayers equally.

The $35 annual base tax would be applied to all properties in the city. According to council documents, the new tax would generate $554,505 in 2021.

“I think residents will have no issue with this,” Dionne told paNOW.

“It was loud and clear during the election that crime was the number one issue and so we are responding to the general public,” he said.

The Prince Albert Police Service initially asked for money for four more officers during January budget deliberations.

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At the time, council upped the service’s budget by $649,490 to $17.4 million – a quarter of the entire general fund budget – but stopped short of meeting the request for additional officers.

Asked why not fund the four officers through general mill rate taxation (like the rest of the city’s police budget) Dionne said: “At the end of the day, everyone gets equal treatment. If it goes to the mill rate, some pay less, some pay more, and that’s unfair when you all have equal access to fire and police.”

Council will discuss the proposed new tax at Monday night’s meeting.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom