Keep of Prisoners

WHEREAS the City of Prince Rupert pays 2.6 million for policing services and along with other local governments whose policing costs make up a substantial amount of their budgets and it is recognized that the communities policed by RCMP have a cost sharing formula depending upon the population of the community and the City along with some communities pay for the keep of prisoners at an annual cost to the City of Prince Rupert of 327,000 and the payment under the new Keep of Prisoners Program include reimbursement for federal and provincial prisoners and the payment received per hour as at February 2003 was 9.52 per hour which is barely above the minimum wage rate; AND WHEREAS the rate of pay for guarding prisoners in Prince Rupert and many other municipalities is governed by Collective Agreements and the hourly rate of pay on an average is almost twice the hourly rate of pay presently reimbursed by the Province and by setting such a low rate of hourly pay for reimbursement, the Province has effectively downloaded the cost to local property taxpayers: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Solicitor General be asked to reimburse the municipalities the cost of keep of prisoners who have allegedly committed offences under federal and provincial legislation at a rate equal to not less than the rate paid by municipalities to guard all prisoners.