FILE PHOTO - Kamloops city councillor Katie Neustaeter

Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Katie Neustaeter

Kamloops city council is calling on other cities to tally how much higher levels of government have downloaded onto their local taxpayers.

It comes after City staff brought a report to council this week revealing millions in spending by the local government that might not have been needed had there been provincial or federal funding.

In response to the report, the City will send a letter each municipality across the province, calling on each to do a similar study. Another will go to all BC political parties asking how they plan to address downloading to local government.

"I haven't seen anything in the last eight years that tells me there is any plan," Coun. Katie Neustaeter said at a May 28 council meeting, adding she'd like to make it an election issue this fall.

Neustaeter's suggestion wasn't without opposition, however, particularly her call to give the report up to political parties other than the BC NDP.

"Getting opposition to champion something we're doing here, to me it's not our place to start allying ourselves with opposition to a sitting government that could be our sitting government in October," Coun. Bill Sarai said.

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Sarai suggested it should simply go to the Union of BC Municipalities instead of meddling with provincial party politics. Parties that oppose the current government would take up the City's report as ammunition against the BC NDP, but may not follow through once elected, he said.

Sarai also happens to have his eye on the candidacy for the BC NDP in the next election, which wasn't mentioned during the meeting.

"I think right now, personally speaking, you already know what the answer's going to be by asking the opposition that you think this is what's going on, it's happening in every municipality," he said. "It's not an easy fix. This isn't the only government that's been downloading. Past governments of every stripe have been downloading, so I don't know what we're accomplishing by sending letters to opposition parties."

His suggestion lost out to the rest of council with just he and Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson voting against sending a letter to all BC political parties. Council unanimously supported the idea of sending a letter to local governments in the province.

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The report pointed to nearly $4 million in City spending on shelter and supportive housing over the past four years, for example, which is primarily a provincial responsibility. Another $3.4 million was blamed on "government shortfalls," which included homeless camp cleanups, medical supplies, security contractors and community programs.

Staff noted drawing a distinction between where one government's responsibility ends and another begins can be muddy at best.

But downloading onto local governments has been a constant issue for years, and it's not restricted to a drop in provincial funding. A 2014 report noted a drop in funding from the federal government, too, has put increasing costs on the shoulders of local governments since the 1990s, ranging from costs for housing and homelessness, along with big infrastructure projects like roads and water treatment plants.

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