Ten south Island mayors have made another attempt to put a stop to plans to download the cost of the E-comm 911 service onto their municipalities.
Starting April 1, Colwood, Langford, Metchosin, North Saanich, Sidney, Sooke, View Royal, North Cowichan, Duncan and Ladysmith will cover 100 per cent of the funding for their 911 call-taking and police dispatch services.
In an open letter to Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Garry Begg, all 10 mayors have expressed their “strong opposition and profound dissatisfaction” with the impending change to how the service is funded, which is currently supported by both the province and federal governments.
The estimated cost for the service this year, from April to December, is $4.9 million, which will be shared between the affected municipalities.
They say the decision will impose a “significant financial burden” on their communities, which will translate to a minimum property tax increase of between 2.7 and 6 per cent.
Other B.C. municipalities will continue to have their police dispatch service funded by the provincial and federal governments, which the south Island mayors have labelled as unfair.
“This is untenable and unacceptable unless these costs are applied equally across British Columbia, phased in appropriately, and accompanied by demonstrable value from E- Comm’s dispatch services,” says the letter.
Originally managed by a local RCMP operational communication centre (OCC), the dispatch service was moved to E-Comm 911 in 2019.
“However, this transition occurred without consultation, transparency, or awareness of the financial repercussions for member municipalities,” says the recent letter from the mayors.
“Maintaining the original OCC would have been considered a viable option if these financial implications had been made clear during the initial transition,” continues the letter.
This is not the first time the mayors have appealed to the province for a pause on the funding changes. In December 2023, all 10 mayors asked for “province-wide equity.”
According to the mayors, the minister of public safety at the time, Mike Farnworth, "implied" their concerns would be addressed – but nothing changed.
The mayors’ letter urges the province to maintain 100 per cent funding of E-Comm while an independent review of the service – announced by the province in December 2024 – is carried out.
It also asks the province to address the funding inequity between south Island municipalities and other jurisdictions, to ensure “consistent and fair treatment across B.C.”
A telecommunications levy to offset 911 dispatch costs and a plea for “meaningful consultation” rounds off the mayors’ list of requests.
“The province has the means to rectify this inequity and support our requests,” they say. “We respectfully assert that these downloaded costs are unacceptable without implementing the above measures.”
The mayors plan to take their case to the steps of the B.C. Legislature, with a press conference set for Thursday morning (Jan. 30).
