The City of Airdrie is expressing concern over a collective agreement between the federal government and the National Police Federation (NPF) concerning retroactive pay and a salary increase for regular members and RCMP reservists.
According to a City press release, the new collective agreement between the federal government and the NPF – which was signed on Aug. 6 – approves a $20,000 salary increase and retroactive pay dating back to 2017. Municipalities are expected to incur this cost and must begin to do so 90 days following the signing of the agreement, the City's release stated.
“Our RCMP members provide Airdrie with an incredible level of service and we sincerely appreciate their effort and contributions to our city and residents,” Mayor Peter Brown said via the release. “We recognize that the RCMP is one of the lowest paid police forces in the country and we support a pay increase for our local members, but [we] take issue with the negotiation process set out by our federal government counterparts.”
The release details the City’s concern that municipalities were not at the table during the decision-making process and didn’t have the ability to express concerns over funding and tax increases.
“Our residents will be directly impacted by the government’s failure to involve or inform municipalities and provinces, and we hope this financial commitment will not be carried solely by the municipalities the RCMP serve,” Brown said.
According to the City, the financial impact of the new agreement is significant. Despite proactively planning and saving funds to contribute to retroactive pay increases, the ramifications for taxpayers will be rather large.
The one-time retroactive pay for every reservist and active member serving Airdrie is estimated to cost the City $4 million, which equates to a 6.35 per cent tax increase.
Increased rate of pay is set to begin on April 1, 2022 and will come at a cost of $1.2 million, or an estimated 1.8 per cent tax increase. This “[transfers] a large financial burden to local ratepayers and substantial pressure on the 2022 budget,” the City’s press release stated.
A previous press release from Public Safety Canada states the six-year tentative agreement applies to more than 19,000 RCMP regular members (those below the rank of inspector) and RCMP reservists. The agreement comes after legislation was passed in 2017 that allows RCMP regular members and reservists to unionize and bargain collectively for the first time.
“This is a monumental day for the RCMP,” said Brenda Lucki, RCMP Commissioner, in a Government of Canada press release issued at the time the agreement was signed. “We look forward to continuing our positive and collaborative working relationship with the NPF to advance a shared interest – ensuring our employees are supported so that they can do their best work for Canadians.”
Cathy Heron, the mayor of St. Albert and the vice-president of cities under 500,000 with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA), said the press release provided by the City is likely the result of AUMA’s letter-writing campaign.
She said municipalities have been encouraged to write letters to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, and the AUMA has been in contact with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities as a means to lobby the federal government.
“This is not only going to affect Alberta municipalities, but any city across Canada that is served by the RCMP,” Heron claimed.
Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta, Kaycee Madu is also well aware of the situation, according to Heron, as she said the province will also be financially impacted, as they pick up the cost of services resulting from this change.
She added the AUMA is working in collaboration with the Alberta government to address valid concerns.
“[The federal government] negotiated this deal and so they should be, in my opinion, responsible, at least for the retroactive pay increases,” she said.
Heron added she is on the same page as Mayor Brown – the pay increases for RCMP are very necessary and will bring salaries in line with municipally run forces, such as Edmonton Police Services, Calgary Police Services and Lethbridge Police Services.
But she said municipalities’ concerns are the fact they were not part of negotiations, adding the cost to the City of St. Albert will be similar to Airdrie – about $3 million. The St. Albert mayor added if the Province and municipalities had been involved in discussions, they may have been able to negotiate a better deal that put less financial pressure on their budgets.
“Many municipalities probably don’t have the financial capacity to cover this extra cost and eventually will have to lead into increased taxes, which is something we try to avoid, especially during COVID,” Heron said. “So, we’re really hoping the federal government can do something to help us out.”
