A new city-operated surveillance system will be part of the 2025 Kamloops tax bill, part of a roughly nine per cent overall increase following city council budget talks.

The system is pitched as a way to alleviate the growing cost of private security, which the city contracts for some public areas, like parks and downtown.

Ten more bylaw officers and surveillance equipment will cost taxpayers between $812,000 and $928,000 per year until at least 2029, according to a staff report.

Exactly where the cameras will go hasn’t been decided yet with the bylaw department expected to coordinate with Kamloops RCMP but the vote didn’t go through without concern.

At a March 11 committee of the whole meeting, councillor Nancy Bepple questioned whether the city has policies in place for public surveillance, to which chief administrative officer Byron McCorkell said it does because of surveillance at facilities like Tournament Capital Centre.

The difference, which wasn’t explored further by the rest of council, is that the new system would have cameras in public areas like downtown or Riverside Park, protecting both public and private property from “non-criminal nuisance behaviour,” as described in the staff report.

“It really changes public spaces when there are cameras used in public areas,” Coun. Bepple said.

She went on to say the public system, monitored 24/7 by a bylaw officer, might not be “equitable” for private property owners because only some businesses, like those downtown, will be affected by the surveillance.

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson voiced concerns about the budget and asked about the benefits of postponing the decision, but fire chief Ken Uzeloc said the cost of security contractors is far above the annual $300,000 in the budget. The alternative would be funding private security guards at a cost of at least $1 million per year.

The move to the surveillance system was passed on a 4-2 vote with Coun. Bepple and Mayor Hamer-Jackson voting against it. Councillor Bill Sarai left the meeting due to a conflict of interest and councillors Mike O’Reilly and Katie Neustaeter were absent from the meeting.

Council has until mid-May to finalize the city budget.