B.C. cities on hook for millions in back pay to RCMP members warn of major budget impacts
B.C. municipalities have begun to obtain payments for hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to cowl again pay for RCMP members beneath the police drive’s new collective settlement — and are warning of tax will increase or different price range impacts until Ottawa helps shoulder the load.
Signed final August, the settlement between the members’ union and the federal authorities secured pay raises for hundreds of RCMP members which are retroactive to 2017, protecting the interval because the pay scale was final up to date in 2016.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie says whereas municipalities that pay the RCMP for policing companies have been warned for years to put aside cash to cowl these retroactive prices, the scale of the invoice that Richmond obtained was nonetheless sudden.
“It wasn’t sufficient,” he stated. “We’ve acquired a really vital fee (due) over the quantity that has been saved.”
Brodie says it’s not simply the retroactive pay — estimated to be between $9-10 million at the moment — that can hit the town’s checking account, but additionally the necessity to cowl the upper pay going ahead.
“There’s going to be a few three-per cent tax enhance ongoing for the working prices,” he stated, estimating a further $7 million price yearly.
“This can be a massive hit on our price range once we can in poor health afford it. So we’re in search of some compensation and a few assist going ahead.”
The Metropolis of Surrey, which at the moment employs the biggest RCMP drive in Canada, will obtain the very best invoice for retroactive pay at an estimated $46.6 million.
A spokesperson for the town stated municipalities had no position in negotiating the collective settlement, including the federal authorities “doesn’t bear in mind any (metropolis’s) capability to pay when negotiating the settlement.”
“Cities are knowledgeable after the very fact,” an announcement from the town stated.
Below the collective settlement for about 20,000 RCMP members, a constable will see a $20,000 annual wage bump as of April 1, whereas a workers sergeant will see a roughly $25,000 elevate.
Though the RCMP is beneath federal jurisdiction, it supplies policing companies to municipalities by way of contracts. How a lot municipalities pay for these companies relies on its dimension, with the rest break up between federal and provincial governments.
B.C.’s 2020 report on policing resources discovered 65 municipalities contract the RCMP, totalling over 4,000 members. Provincial RCMP companies have a further 2,600 members.
Laurey-Anne Roodenburg, a Quesnel metropolis councillor and vp of the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), says her metropolis can be on the hook for about $834,000 in retroactive pay — which is on the low finish of the dimensions.
“We’re a neighborhood of simply over 10,000 folks,” she stated. “In the event you take a look at North Cowichan” — whose inhabitants is simply shy of 32,000 folks — “they are going to be getting a invoice of over $1 million.”
Roodenburg wouldn’t say if taxes will go up in Quesnel or different municipalities because of the again pay, saying it will likely be as much as native metropolis councils to make these selections.
“Native governments perceive the necessity for RCMP policing of their communities, and they’ll discover methods — native governments are very inventive relating to attempting to determine these kind of challenges,” she stated.
She says the UBCM has known as on the federal authorities to soak up the retroactive pay prices, however have thus far been ignored.
Brodie says he and the remainder of the B.C. City Mayors Caucus he sits on has requested a gathering with Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino, whose ministry oversees the RCMP.
Different provinces in addition to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities have beforehand known as on Ottawa to assist municipalities — significantly these in rural areas — cowl the prices.
A Public Security Canada spokesperson didn’t reply to World Information in time for publication.
