Shippagan Mayor Jonathan Roch Noël says his town's situation was unique. (Courtesy of the Town of Shippagan)

Some other towns and villages in New Brunswick are wondering if the province will cut them a deal like the settlement the town of Shippagan and the provincial government reached over an outstanding RCMP bill.

The mayor of Shippagan defended Shppigan's deal Friday.

Under the deal, made public on Wednesday, the northeastern town will only have to pay $1.7 million of the $2.6 million it owes for policing services dating back to 1997.

The opposition Liberals have criticized the deal as unfair to other municipalities that paid their bills in full.

Jerome Bear, Dorchester's deputy mayor, admitted he's envious of Shippagan's write-off.

"If they're going to do it for one, they should be able to do it for others, as well."

Dorchester's overdue RCMP bill is $49,000, one-third of that — the same percentage forgiven in Shippagan — would pay for much-needed street repairs in the village, Bear said.

But Shippagan Mayor Jonathan Roch Noël said his town's case was unique and doesn’t believe it will set a precedent for other communities.

Shippagan has been without a policing contract since 1995 because of a dispute over whether the town was getting enough service, he explained.

“We were the only [one] that I know of that didn't have a contract,” said Noël.

“I don't think all the other municipalities have been trying to negotiate, first of all, they signed a contract, probably they're still on that contract. And second of all, I don't think it's been going on 14 years long."

Dispute over service levels

The dispute over service levels was why the town was refusing to pay its bill in full, said Noël.

The town did, however, pay two-thirds of its bill every year during the disagreement, he added.

"If you ask me if I'm happy about it, I would say not really. I'm happy that we did settle this thing once and for all,” said Noël.

“The province of New Brunswick received quite a large amount of money, because we were telling the province that we didn't owe them nothing."

The province will pay the remaining $900,000 of the town’s debt, Dale Wilson, the deputy minister of public safety, told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

Under a policing agreement, the provincial government pays the federal government for the RCMP's regional services and then bills the municipalities quarterly.

The opposition Liberals raised the issue of municipalities not paying their RCMP bills last fall, when 15 communities were in arrears.

In November, the municipalities had a combined outstanding balance of more than $3 million for their RCMP services.

Premier David Alward said in November that Shippagan would have to pay what it owed the government.

The provincial government and Shippagan then began negotiating over how the unpaid bills would be covered.

Bear said times are tough all over the province.

"An RCMP budget goes up, yet your budget transfer and taxes go down, that puts a real constraint on municipalities."

In fact, Dorchester expects its RCMP bill to rise again, thanks to new census data showing a slight increase in the village's population.

Bear said the town doesn't have the money to pay for an increase.