NORTH BATTLEFORD - Fallout continues from last year’s collective agreement between the federal government and the RCMP.
One of the big issues to emerge from that collective agreement was retroactive pay, with the municipalities having to foot the bill for all retroactive costs of the local RCMP.
The collective agreement has raised alarm bells among municipalities, who face a hit amounting to millions of dollars for some jurisdictions. In North Battleford, it amounts to over $1 million or an equivalent of a 6.45 per cent tax increase to residents, according to the city's news release.
At their meeting Monday, North Battleford council heard that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities put out a call to municipalities to respond to the Government of Canada’s collective agreement with the RCMP.
One resolution passed by council Monday called for the City of North Battleford to join the FCM in calling on the federal government to commit to ensuring that local governments are meaningfully consulted, fully informed, and at the table on all matters related to policing costs.
Council also voted in favour of a resolution calling on FCM to appeal to the federal government on behalf of all municipalities in respect to RCMP retroactive pay. That carried.
A third resolution also called for the city to convey their thoughts in a letter to the Minister of Public Safety Canada. That also carried.
The topic of RCMP costs and similar resolutions also came up on the same night over at the Town of Battleford's council meeting.
Later in the North Battleford meeting, Councillor Kelli Hawtin asked about how the City of North Battleford planned to absorb the cost. According to a letter received by the city from Public Safety Canada, the federal government has agreed to extend the time of repayment up to two years. Cities must apply for the extended payment terms which do not extend beyond March 31, 2025.
City Manager Randy Patrick made clear to council their position is they should not have to pay it and there should be support from the federal government, but if they do end up paying it they will do it quarterly in the next two years.
As for where the money will come from to pay for the increase, Mayor David Gillan and city officials noted it has already been factored into the city's budgets and previous tax increases.
It was pointed out that the city had anticipated and prepared for the additional RCMP retroactive costs as a worst-case scenario. Councillor Len Taylor noted there was an impact seen in other areas, pointing out they had not been able to spend more money on other projects they wanted such as road or sidewalk construction.
"To a certain extent the taxpayer has lost the value of their contributions the last two years, because it's going to the RCMP," said Taylor. He said it was a "significant draw on the operations of the city over the last couple of years."
In a news release issued by the City of North Battleford the following day, they noted the RCMP’s union, the National Police Federation, had ratified its first-ever contract with the federal government in 2021 and that it featured significant pay increases dating back to 2017.
It was noted the City of North Battleford and other communities belonging to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities had lobbied the federal government to absorb the retroactive costs. But the Feds' 2023 Budget on March 27, did not include that support for municipalities.
“Local governments were not at the table for these negotiations,” stated FCM in a release. “While [bargaining agreement] cost estimates were provided to some municipalities, these initial estimates turned out to be far lower than the [eventually-] approved [wage] increases spread out over six years [2017-2023]. The cost to North Battleford associated with these retroactive payments is expected to be slightly more than $1 million.”
“Like many other Canadian municipalities, the City was disappointed to learn that the federal government will not be covering these costs,” said Mayor Gillan in a statement. “At a time when many people are experiencing post-pandemic and inflationary financial struggles, it is unfair to have residents contributing to an additional $1 million cost that was agreed to by the federal government and not by the City of North Battleford.”
