PENTICTON, B.C. – Organizers of the Boonstock Music Festival are reassuring taxpayers they will pay for policing costs, but only for reasonable RCMP enforcement costs for the 2014 event.
On September 5th, Boonstock received a $176,901.10 bill from the B.C. Ministry of Justice, according to President Colin Kobza.
Kobza is now requesting a “resources breakdown of the RCMP services provided to Boonstock Productions Inc., including receipts and additional details of costs incurred”.
“We expect that Superintendent Kevin Hewco, who endorsed the Boonstock Music Festival’s Safety & Security Plan in writing prior to the event, will provide us with an itemized account of RCMP services rendered to the Boonstock event,” says Kobza in a press release dated September 10th.
The bill from the Provincial Government includes policing and other costs for bringing in RCMP from other detachments. The other costs, which include accommodation, transportation, meals, and incidentals, make up one quarter of the $176,901.10 bill.
Penticton RCMP say the total bill for policing Boonstock is $250,000. Policing costs for RCMP in Canada are covered municipally, provincially and federally. The Federal Government is expected to bill Boonstock for about $75,000 for its portion of the bill.
Penticton’s RCMP commander Supt. Hewco, in a press release Wednesday, said security gaps were identified during policing at the Boonstock event prompting the need for extra resources.
Kobza is looking for details of the 150 police files and 38 prisoners attributed to the festival and how those numbers compare to previous August long weekends in Penticton.
While Supt. Hewco said he could not call Boonstock a success because someone died at the event, Boonstock in turn thanks RCMP for helping make the event a success.
The full press release from Boonstock can be accessed here.
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