NORTH BATTLEFORD - The increase in RCMP policing costs has gotten the attention of the Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Rosemarie Falk.
Falk has sent a letter dated Nov. 15 to the new federal Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino outlining concerns about the RCMP cost increases that municipalities are facing as a result of the most recent collective agreement.
Her correspondence pointed to “the state of severe financial uncertainty facing municipalities in my riding of Battlefords-Lloydminster and across the country following the collective agreement negotiated between the Government of Canada and the National Police Federation this past summer.”
She noted municipalities were “being ladened with the financial implications of these labour negotiations,” and noted Saskatchewan municipalities were not able to run deficits, “leaving them to either cut services or increase taxes significantly.”
Included in her correspondence were letters from mayors in North Battleford, Cut Knife and Wilkie, that were written to Mendocino’s predecessor Bill Blair expressing concerns about the collective agreement increases.
In his letter dated Oct. 8 to Blair, North Battleford Mayor David Gillan stated that his city is “not in the financial position to absorb any significant costs arising from the tentative agreement.”
Gillan’s correspondence stated the increase from the negotiations would result in annual cost increases of “between $837,569 and $1,070,299, or a 15.9 percent to 20.4 percent increase to policing costs.”
Also included were letters from Cut Knife Mayor Gwenn Kaye and Wilkie Mayor David Ziegler. Kaye pointed to the five years of retroactive pay increases from the tentative agreement and stated that “if these costs are passed down to our community, the fiscal shock caused by this decision will further threaten the viability of our community, which is still struggling to recover from the impact of the pandemic.”
She noted Cut Knife’s yearly tax base is seven percent for RCMP policing costs. She described this as “a service that has been decreasing in our community as a lot of the work our RCMP members do are in the rural areas around Cut Knife.”
In his correspondence to Blair dated Oct. 21, Wilkie Mayor Ziegler expressed similar concerns. He noted that 10 percent of their yearly tax levy goes towards RCMP policing costs in the community, not including additional costs to employ a bylaw officer.
All three mayors called for the retroactive pay increases to be paid by the federal government, saying it would be “unreasonable and unfair to download these costs into municipalities.”
The correspondence to the federal ministers were made public at North Battleford’s council meeting Monday night, a meeting in which council was set to consider the proposed 2022 budget.
On Monday, council passed the 2022 budget which included a property tax increase of 5.11 percent, which included a 3.77 increase to cover the increase from the RCMP contract.
