(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Alessia Proietti

Municipalities continue advocacy efforts

City of Red Deer to pay $6.3 million in retroactive RCMP costs

Mar 31, 2023 | 7:28 PM

The City of Red Deer says its bill for retroactive RCMP costs is $6.3 million, to be paid by March 2025.

“Municipalities weren’t at the table when this was negotiated and not at the table in terms of being able to say definitively how this was going to impact their day-to-day operations. My concern here is suddenly you’re handed this bill and here’s your two years to pay it when you’ve had no input at the front end,” says Mayor Ken Johnston, adding the bill is a “huge hit” to the bottom lines of municipalities.

The mayor was on his way back from the Alberta Municipalities (AM) 2023 Spring Municipal Leaders’ Caucus, which took place from March 30-31 in Edmonton, alongside Councillors Dianne Wyntjes, Lawrence Lee and Bruce Buruma.

He said that at the meeting, AM President, and Mayor of St. Albert, Cathy Heron said she would issue a statement to advocate against the decision. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) vocalized the same.

The RCMP union contract settlement was finalized in 2021 with advice from the federal government to prepare for a 2.5 per cent yearly retroactive pay from January 2017 to December 2021.

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However, the FCM says that despite months of municipal advocacy led by their group, provincial-territorial associations, and local leaders across Canada, the federal government indicated in the recently released 2023 Budget that it will not be meeting the request to absorb the retroactive costs associated with the latest RCMP collective bargaining agreement. Instead, the feds have offered details on a repayment period for municipalities.

“Municipalities have been crystal clear,” says FCM president Taneen Rudyk. “Local governments were not at the table for these negotiations. And while cost estimates were provided to some municipalities, these turned out to be far below the final agreement’s increase over six years, with retroactive pay going back to 2017.”

“The federal government’s refusal to absorb these costs – which were essentially negotiated with municipal money but not with municipal input – is not acceptable. Municipal councils will be forced to make incredibly tough decisions, such as making cuts to essential services or passing the bill along to residents, at a time when Canadians’ concerns about local safety and the cost of living are already rising.”

Johnston said the City is fortunate to have started putting money aside in 2020 while waiting for the final cost.

At a council meeting in November 2022, administration confirmed that the City was holding $9.6 million in an accrued liability fund for the RCMP retroactive pay settlement.

READ: Red Deer still holding $9.6 million for RCMP retroactive pay contract increases

The City’s Chief Financial Officer Ray McIntosh says as the funds have been already set aside, this expenditure will not affect the budget, and any remaining funds will go into the general accounts of the City as they do not have any designated plans for it yet.

The mayor says he will sit down with administration in the upcoming weeks to discuss specifics of how they will pay the bill, while waiting to hear the result of more advocacy efforts from the AM Board and FCM.

“I would have rather, obviously, the federal government did the right thing and pay the retroactive payment, because they negotiated the contract, or at least say, ‘Look, put that money directly into your policing budget for future years, or housing, or any other issue that municipalities see’, as opposed to just licking the envelope and putting it in the mailbox; that’s what really disappoints me here,” he said.

The FCM says the decision is an example of a federal commitment that deeply impacts municipalities without municipalities being properly consulted or involved. They added that municipal governments are paying a growing share of policing costs, but they cannot run deficits and have limited revenue tools.

The group said they will be reiterating the need for municipalities to be actively involved in any future processes regarding contract policing.

“This situation cannot occur again,” said Rudyk. “Going forward, municipalities must be properly consulted on issues related to policing costs given the municipal responsibility to keep our communities safe.”