Province promises to help Fredericton with shooting costs
The City of Fredericton is getting help paying for the costs associated with the fatal shootings of two police officers and two civilians on Aug. 10.
During question period Tuesday, Fredericton North MLA Stephen Horsman asked if the Progressive Conservative government was going to do anything to help the city avoid debt.
Minister of Public Safety Carl Urquhart said the government has met with RCMP and "the cost of RCMP policing to the city has been waived, so we will not be receiving the bill from the RCMP to the City of Fredericton."
He said he's also asked the city to provide a cost breakdown of how much it had to spend as a result of the shootings.
"As soon as I have that, we're going to sit down and see what other further assistance we can provide to them," Urquhart said, as he was cheered by members of the legislative assembly.
The city has said a $2.1 million budget shortfall this year was mostly related to the cost of the shootings.
A gunman killed police constables Robb Costello, 45, and Sara Burns, 43, and civilians Donnie Robichaud, 42, and Bobbi Lee Wright, 32, outside an apartment building on the north side of Fredericton.
Coun. Greg Ericson, chair of the city's finance committee, said the announcement that RCMP will be waiving the bill for its services related to the shootings came as a surprise to him, although the city had asked the federal and provincial governments for help.
"Certainly, the city is incredibly thankful for their support," he said. "As far as I know, city staff and members of the province's staff have meetings scheduled … to discuss those issues because there's a lot of different costs coming from different places."
Ericson said the total cost of the shootings is still unclear. In approximate figures, he said, the city will spend $2.1 million over two years to hire 10 new officers. The regimental funeral is expected to cost around $1 million, and the investigation, which continues, is expected to cost $1 million.
Ericson said the RCMP costs could be part of all three areas of shooting costs, and he doesn't yet know how much the waived bills will actually save the city.
He said the finance committee hasn't seen bills or a description of services in the aftermath of the shootings.
"They were active in the regimental funeral, they were active in the investigation, they were active providing service support on the scene," he said.
"I don't know the full scope of their activities but they were a magnificent support for the city, and they were greatly relied on at that time."
He said the city is looking forward to conversations next week to sort out all the expenses and what kind of timelines they should expect.
However, he's sure no amount of surprise financial relief will change the budget passed by council last week. The budget included major fee increases and some cuts in capital projects.
"At this point the budget is signed, sealed and delivered," he said.
