Stratford hit with $188k bill to cover RCMP back pay
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STRATFORD, P.E.I. — The City of Stratford is grappling with a $188,000 invoice for retroactive prices linked to the newest RCMP contract settlement.
In an announcement, Stratford Mayor Steve Ogden aired his disappointment with the federal authorities’s choice to move again pay prices associated to the policing contract to municipalities.
He mentioned municipalities had little say in negotiations between federal officers and the RCMP, noting that the city has to search out cash to cowl the bills from taxpayers.
“Not having the ability to have a say throughout this course of after which simply being handed a invoice in the long run will not be one thing any municipality would anticipate,” mentioned Ogden. “As budgets are tight already, this simply additional stresses our backside line.”
The ultimate settlement negotiated with the RCMP contains retroactive pay courting again to 2017. Stratford’s 2023-24 working funds incorporates a $300 surplus.
The city cannot function in a deficit, leaving little flexibility for the added expense.
Ogden famous that the federal authorities supplied value estimates to some municipalities, however they turned out to be far under the ultimate settlement’s improve over six years.
“The $188,000 owed might be utilized in so many locations to assist improve our neighborhood additional,” he mentioned.
