RCMP members deserve a fair wage.
A recently ratified collective agreement between non-commissioned RCMP members and the Federal Government includes several years of retroactive pay.
The bill for retroactive pay has to be paid by municipalities served by the RCMP.
That's a heavy financial burden, especially for smaller communities
RCMP won the well-deserved right to unionize in Canada's supreme court in January of 2015.
The RCMP had been barred from forming a union since the 1960s when other government employees unionized
Collectively, the bill for the retroactive pay to BC communities served by the RCMP will be in the hundreds of millions.
Moving forward there will also be increased costs for the policing service.
Vernon alone may be facing an estimated 3.4 million one-time cost for retroactive pay.
Looking ahead to the coming years Vernon city spokesperson Christy Poirer estimates that could mean a 2.4% increase for Vernon taxpayers.
According to Vernon's Chief Administrative Officer, Will Pearce
"2022 will see the full implementation of the RCMP Collective Agreement, the first negotiated Collective Agreement covering regular members. The Collective Agreement will have a significant impact on the operating budgets of municipalities across British Columbia that contract RCMP services. The City of Vernon, on Council direction, has set aside monies to accommodate the resulting retroactive lump sum payment which dates back to 2017. In 2022, the Collective Agreement will add more than $1 million to the City operating budget which equates to a one-time municipal tax rate increase of 2.32%"
You can view the proposed Vernon Budget HERE
Approximately 70% of a typical municipalities police budget goes to member compensation
Proposed Vernon Budget Executive summary
