The District of Sooke is putting money aside for future policing costs.
“It is anticipated that as the community continues to grow, the service level demands on policing in the district will increase and addition [police officers] will be required. Having a healthy reserve to cover these future costs is important,” wrote Brent Blackhall, director of financial services, in a report to council.
The district will establish a future policing costs reserve fund from the provincial traffic revenue sharing grant. This year the municipality received $85,240.
The grant returns 100 per cent of net revenues from traffic violations to municipalities that are responsible for paying for police.
Sooke pays 70 per cent of policing costs or about $1.7 million annually.
It costs $165,000 to fully fund an RCMP position. The district added a new officer to the RCMP ranks in late summer.
Sooke RCMP has a complement of 16 officers. Twelve of those officers are paid by the district, the remaining four, or rural officers, are paid by the province.
The future policing costs funding is proposed for 2017 and subsequent years.