BANFF - Parking and traffic fine revenue was $369,000 under budget in 2017. The Town of Banff was expecting $1.1 million in revenue from the RCMP and Banff bylaw department, but it came in at $780,600.
BANFF - Parking and traffic fine revenue was $369,000 under budget in 2017.
The Town of Banff was expecting $1.1 million in revenue from the RCMP and Banff bylaw department, but it came in at $780,600. Bylaw collected $65,000 more in fines than expected, while the RCMP was $434,000 under budget.
Town Manager Robert Earl said the municipality has had recent meetings with the Banff RCMP detachment and Bow Valley Integrated Traffic Unit to get the revenue to more traditional levels.
"We're actively working with RCMP to bring these numbers back to where they're expected," said Earl at a council meeting Monday (April 30).
The Town of Banff funds 75 per cent of RCMP contract costs up to 12 officers.
The police traffic revenue to the municipality comes from two sources, the Banff RCMP detachment and the Bow Valley integrated traffic unit, made up of Mounties and Alberta sheriffs.
"We only get fine revenue generated inside the townsite regardless of the issuer," said Kelly Gibson, the Town's corporate services director.
RCMP Cpl. Chris Blandford of the Bow Valley Integrated Traffic Unit said there is revenue that goes to the Town of Banff, but there's a caveat.
"People that are on my unit are provincially funded, but there's no obligation for us to be in town. We do it because of traffic safety issus," he said.
"It's (the revenue) a benefit the Town gets as a result of our enforcement, but that's about it."
Staff Sgt. Mike Buxton-Carr said the Banff detachment's traffic and liquor tickets were down a small percentage compared to previous years.
"I would imagine that's due to the resource picture. We're still hoping to augment our resources," he said.
A few years back, council made the decision to put revenue from parking and traffic fine into a separate reserve.
Earl said while the $369,000 overall loss of revenue does hit the bottom line, it's in the capital budget, not the operating bottom line.
"We're never left in a situation where we've got an annual deficit as a result of wild swings in the amount of traffic and parking fine revenue," he said. "However, it did have a negative impact on our capital reserves."
