City councillor calls for more program funding to fight crime
With the proposed 2017 city budget calling for an additional $1,177,550 in funding, one Prince Albert city councillor wants to look at different ways to keep crime down.
Ward 1 Coun. Charlene Miller called the budget proposal “interesting,” but said not all problems can be solved by more having more police officers, and she’s worried other important areas are being underfunded.
“I think that the money would be better off spent on programming across our city, not policing everything,” she said. “I know that there are a few places that are struggling for their programming money, which in turn help the youth do things and put them into programs and help them out with doing things.”
The $1,177,550 represents a 7.8 per cent increase in the policing budget. Roughly $1.2 million of that will go towards covering new salaries, benefits and fleet expenses. The city is currently lobbying the provincial government to provide additional police officers.
Miller said she’s frustrated with how the city is allocating money, and plans of voting against the proposed budget in its current form.
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