A warning from the City of Kamloops that local homeowners may have to begin picking up the tab to keep existing street protection and clean-up programs going.

As part of a question asked during Tuesday’s council meeting connected to a review of existing social programs, Community Protective Services Director Byron McCorkell notes most of the money currently being spent on existing street services, such as Community Services Officers, comes from Victoria and Ottawa.

“The funding right now is primarily coming through grant sources which will come due, basically, in the middle of summer,” said McCorkell.

In anticipation of that money drying up, McCorkell says council will be given a set of funding options sometime in the new year.

“What we’ll be coming to you [council] with is a conversation around our Protective Services reserves, and how we might be able to transition from grants, through reserves, into a tax draw some point in the future.”

It’s not clear how much of a tax increase would be needed to maintain the existing services.

Around $2-million dollars in grant money is currently being spent in areas such as needle and graffiti clean-up, as well as the roughly two-dozen Community Services Officers hired to help patrol the streets.

Kamloops council is already looking at a roughly $7-million-dollar shortfall as part of its forthcoming budget discussions, which — if left unchecked — would see a tax increase of roughly 5.6-percent.