Admitting it will continue to be a “tough road” and one the city’s been travelling down for three or four years, city council passed a motion unanimously to request an additional increase in Police Based Victim Services funding for Williams Lake based on the community’s current needs.
Last November the city wrote Solicitor General Shirley Bond requesting the victim services formula be amended to reflect the demand as opposed to population. A letter from Bond, dated Jan. 24, said the Williams Lake Police-based Victim Services program received an approximate funding increase of 27 per cent.
“The increase for this program and other programs was in part recognition for the challenges that rural/isolated communities face in providing services,” Bond stated. Police-based victim services programs are cost shared 50/50 with local governments in communities that contribute to their policing costs.
“My ministry has no plans to update the funding formula at this time,” Bond said.
Mayor Kerry Cook said Bond’s letter makes it clear that money’s tight. “We’re looking at the community’s concerns and ways of sharing resources differently, including possibly using volunteers to help,” Cook said.
“That’s going to be the challenge,” Cook said.