Airdrie Policing Committee reviews RCMP budget requests

Recent quarterly updates from the RCMP highlight the ongoing workload for Airdrie officers, including proactive school patrols and rising criminal code offences.

Local taxpayers could face a 0.87 per cent tax hike in 2027 as the RCMP requests additional officers to support crime reduction and community units. The Policing Committee accepted the RCMP Resource Request for 2027-2030 and Q3 and Q4 update as information on July 8. Resource Request 2027 to 2030 The Multi-Year Financial Plan, which provides comprehensive updates for the upcoming fiscal years is not yet available.

The six-year agreement of 2017 to 2022 included five years of retroactive pay increases, meaning that a salary of a First Class Constable increased by 24 per cent. The final payment for the retroactive amount owing from this round of negotiations was March 31, 2025. A second agreement was finalized in April 2024 and over the term of this two-year agreement (2023-2024), RCMP members will receive an eight per cent salary increase.

Of the four per cent of this increase is retroactive and effective April 1, 2023. As mentioned during the presentation, at the time of this report writing, it is unknown when the next contract will be finalized and what the financial implications will be to the city. RCMP have advised to budget 3.5 per cent for retroactive payments for when the contract is signed.

RCMP members budget for the City of Airdrie will increase by approximately $811K in 2027, which includes the cost of two additional members. This represents a 0.87 per cent tax increase; a one per cent tax increase for 2026 is $937K, and transfers a financial burden to local ratepayers, as well as places pressure on the 2027 budget. The staffing request include one sergeant position for the Community Unit, and one corporal position.

The corporal will be deployed to the Crime Reduction Unit in plain clothes aligning to the RCMP organizational requirements for supervisory and oversight ration. The approximate cost for the two positions is $520K. For 2028 to 2029, three new constables as uniformed regular members: two of them will be added to the Municipal Traffic Unit bringing the total Unit Resources to four; and one uniform member to the Community Unit to enhance the Positive Directions Program. The approximate cost for the two positions is $809K. For 2029 to 2030, one corporal position request has been listed to facilitate having a dedicated municipal traffic unit able to be more agile in focusing on Road Safety initiatives.

The approximate cost for the position is $277K. Q3 and Q4 Update To assist the Policing Committee in fulfilling their mandate, the RCMP provides quarterly updates to this committee. This report pertains to the first and second quarters (Q3 and Q4) reporting period, spanning from Oct 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026. Statistically for Q3, Airdrie saw an eight per cent growth increase in property crime, 19 per cent in overall other criminal offences.

In comparison to other offences that are related to weapons and breaches, there were 166 domestic violence cases to the previous year of 143 cases for that particular period. When it comes to mental health statistics, numbers were slightly elevated from 2024 with 133 occurrences. For Q4, there was a slight decrease in property crime with 13 per cent, and overall, 14 per cent increase on other criminal code offences.

For domestic violence, statistics showed that there were 149 incidents, which is on average with the rest of the province. Though mental health occurrences elevated with 159 cases. According to sergeants, this is not a surprising number as these are occurrences they deal with on a regular basis.

They continue to provide proactive intervention and crisis response support within the community. As far as the Community and School Liaison Unit's contribution is concerned, the school resource officers continue conducting school patrols, school walk through, open house attendance, and ongoing engagement with students, staff, and administration, throughout the other schools.