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THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE HAS APPEARED IN THE RECORD ON February 6, 2002

A new chapter in Brome Lake police debate?



Who said the police debate is dead and buried in the Town of Brome Lake? No, I haven't forgotten that 73 per cent of those who responded to last November's survey opted for a beefed-up municipal police force. And yes, I am well aware that TBL is prepared to present its Level I organizational plan to the new Public Security Minister for his approval.

So what has changed since the survey? For one, this year's municipal tax assessments may have injected a whole new chapter into the "police" controversy. What with the 36 per cent across-the-board tax hike, the costs of the municipal police option are beginning to sink in - out of the 32 cent increase per $100 evaluation, 17 cents was budgeted just to cover the extra Level I police costs.

While many of us may have been prepared for an increase, we certainly didn't anticipate the additional hefty jump of 15 cents per $100 evaluation for road repairs etc. No doubt, quite a few property owners were jolted out of their indifference when they received their property assessments which makes me wonder how many more would have voted for the SQ option had they known the actual figures. At this rate, having our own municipal police force may soon be a luxury that very few of us will be able to afford.

As to why the council decided to implement all of the various increases in the same budget is open to speculation. Perhaps our elected officials believed that by doing it now it would give us just enough time to recover from the shock before the upcoming municipal elections. Although we were warned of an increase in December when the budget was presented there is nothing like receiving a hiked-up tax bill to really get the message. Judging from the local news reports, there were quite a few unhappy citizens who attended last month's town council meeting for that precise reason. This leads me to wonder how many of them actually answered the police survey. Apparently, only 2881 registered property owners out of the 4300 bothered to complete and return their survey, which is barely 67 per cent. Although the 2103 that voted in favor of the municipal option constituted a very convincing majority, they still represent less than 50 per cent of the property owners.

Furthermore, how many of those unhappy citizens attended the Sept. 7 police information meeting to voice their concerns? I am referring, of course, to the one and only public meeting at which time the SQ did such a lousy PR job. Somehow their head honchos failed to realize that the language factor in TBL was as important an issue as police presence. If they had, they surely would have gone out of their way to designate spokespersons who were fluently bilingual. Don't get me wrong -my commitment to the SQ option never wavered.

But here is another potential development worth considering. At the time of the survey, it was estimated that the SQ option would cost TBL $1.3 million or approximately $200,000 less than the municipal option. However, the government has yet to release the final and official tariff per $100 evaluation, which should indicate exactly how much the SQ option would cost to property owners. Once the information is released, the municipalities will have 30 days to indicate their final decision. It now seems that the final tariff for the Brome - Missisquoi MRC may very well end up costing up to five cents less than the 30 cent/ per $100 evaluation that was relied upon when the TBL survey took place. Why such a possible reduction and why couldn't the government have made this information available before the survey. My understanding is that without knowing just how many municipalities preferred the SQ option, the government was in no position to determine with accuracy how many police officers would be required to service them and how the costs could be divided up among the municipalities.

However, there is more. The government undertook not to charge any MRC with more than 80 per cent of the actual SQ costs. Insofar as the Brome-Missisquoi MRC is concerned, the projected 30 cents per $100 evaluation for the SQ option could very well generate up to 85 per cent of the total costs of the SQ. If this happens the difference would have to be returned to the municipalities and ultimately to the property owners.

One last comment. In most other municipalities a 36 per cent tax hike would amount to political suicide but apparently not in TBL where our tolerance to " police" taxes has already been well established. I'm referring, of course to the unexpected tax increase in 1998, when we were given 30 days to help cover the $700,000 Supreme Court award against TBL in the Allan Gauthier case. If that weren't enough, we also learned that TBL may well have been insured against such risks and that no special tax would have been necessary if only the 1988 administration had relayed Gauthier's claim to the town's insurers.

Before anyone reminds me that this matter was already examined by a TBL " commission of inquiry " in 1999, I haven't forgotten. In fact, I am looking forward to dealing with the subject in a future column. So where does all this lead us? What with a new Public Security minister and the many details that remain to be ironed out before either police option can become operational, the chances are that the provincial government will be obliged to extend its June I deadline. In the meantime, if it turns out that the estimated savings under the SQ option are higher under the soon-to-be-released tariff, it would be only fair to provide the TBL property owners with another opportunity to indicate their preference.

Something tells me that the rate of participation would be much higher.