DNA testing cost downloaded on city

The city will have to cough up the money from somewhere to pay for police DNA analysis services next year.

Communities with populations of more than 5,000 people have been told they have to split a $2.9 million share of the expense – traditionally picked up by the province – next year.

According to a Union of B.C. Municipalities backgrounder, the federal government has long covered the cost of the RCMP DNA testing services, and since 2004 provinces and territories have kicked in $3.8 million every year.

But in 2013, the federal government initiated a change to the way the services are paid for. Now, the provinces pay for 54 per cent of the service, based on their share of the DNA analysis requests coming from their respective jurisdictions.

In B.C., the province picked up the whole $2.5 million tab for the RCMP’s 2014-15 fiscal year. This year, the provincial government paid $1.3 million and agreed to pick up 75 per cent of the remaining $2.3 million.

Next year, the province will again pay its $1.36 million base contribution and the rest will fall to local governments who contract RCMP services.

It’s a decision the Union of B.C. Municipalities is unhappy with and has requested that the province reverse course.

“The province has committed itself to a funding approach without any knowledge of the ability of local governments to pay for these services,” said a letter to Justice Minister Suzanne Anton from UBCM president Al Richmond. “Not only does this create additional pressure on local finances, the decision flies in the face of the ‘One Taxpayer’ principle so often invoked by the provincial government.”

Community services general manager Rob Whitwham said the city received notice of the extra charge while staff “were well into finalizing the budget.”

The Prince George share of the cost for next year is projected to be $51,876.95.

“We’ll just have to see how spending goes in the budget as we approach year end, assuming we do in fact pay by the end of April,” Whitwham said. The cost would be covered by the police support operations budget. “We’ll see where we’re at, how that overall budget’s performing.”

The North Central Local Government Association is backing UBCM in its request that the province scrap the bills and open the floor for discussion.

“I understand money is tight everywhere, but this is just a distortion of the system so that the provincial and federal governments can claim they’ve ‘balanced the budget,’” NCLGA president Brian Frenkel said, in a press release.

In his letter to Anton, Richmond stressed that other jurisdictions haven’t gone this route.

“While all provinces and territories are faced with the same cost pressures related to DNA analysis services, I am not aware of any other province, other than British Columbia, that is shifting a portion of these costs to local government,” Richmond wrote.

Anton’s response, posted in a statement on the ministry website, was that the federal government, not the province, was to blame for not contributing as much as it had in the past.

“While UBCM and municipalities have been aware of these changes for over a year, I do understand why they have concerns with the decision by the federal government,” Anton said. “I would encourage them to raise these directly with the Government of Canada.”