The City of Steinbach is facing some additional costs now that the population has surpassed the threshold of 15,000. 2016 census numbers released Wednesday show Steinbach has 15,829 people. Troy Warkentin, the city's Chief Administrative Officer, says there's one line item in the budget in particular that will rise sharply as a result of the census.

"Probably the biggest impact for the city will be the expected increase in the RCMP policing costs as the contract, that the city entered into a few years ago, indicates that the city will now be required to pay 90% of the RCMP policing costs. This compares to the current 70%."

Warkentin says Steinbach currently pays just under $2 million a year towards RCMP costs and that will go up by $600,000 this year to $2.55 million. He notes some of that will be offset by an increase in the provincial General Support Grant, which is also population-based. He outlines what kind of increase they expect.

"Right now, the estimate that the city has is an annual increase in revenue of approximately $250,000. That's what we have budgeted. In the event that the city does receive extra funding, over and above what we've budgeted for, we certainly would welcome the increased revenue."

The $250,000 grant increase will still leave the city to come up with another $350,000 to cover the added policing costs.