RCMP unionization to cost City of Vernon millions more for policing

Photo: Jon Manchester

The unionization of the RCMP will cost the City of Vernon millions of dollars.

After winning the right to unionize several years ago, RCMP members ratified a six-year collective agreement this past summer, which the Union of BC Municipalities said in August "covers numerous key issues impacting local governments, including base compensation for affected members."

The contract allows for economic and restructuring salary increases totalling more than 23% over the six years, retroactive to 2017, according to a report to council last month.

City of Vernon spokesperson Christy Poirier says the city has not received any new budget information from the RCMP, but the city estimates the one-time costs of retroactive pay to be approximately $3.4 million.

The city put aside approximately $1.8 million in anticipation of the contract's ratification.

"The city estimates the cost of implementing the collective agreement from Jan. 1, 2022, forward (for regular members) will equate to a 2022 municipal tax rate increase of 2.4%," says Poirier.

The contract does not include commissioned officers, who are not covered by the collective agreement.

It would maintain, but not add to, the current number of regular members in the city, which is 56, says Poirier.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and other regional organizations are asking the federal government to kick in more money to fund the RCMP – taking the burden off individual municipalities that contract services from the national police service.

According to the September report to council, the 2021 RCMP contract budget is $10,389,074 – with about 70% or $7,236,998 going to member compensation and pensions.

On top of the retroactive pay, the report states city administration had estimated an RCMP contract increase of between $660,000 (6.3%) and $1 million (9.8%) for the 2022 budget, which would have equated to an overall tax increase of between 1.5% and 2.2%, but that number has now grown.

The city's proposed 2022 budget will be presented to council Nov. 8 before it is debated at special meetings Nov. 29 and 30.

The UBCM compared starting wages for different police services in B.C. and other large cities in Canada and noted most non-RCMP police forces offer more than $70,000 in annual starting wages, whereas the RCMP’s starting wage was about $53,000 for the first six months.

A first-class constable in a municipal police force received more than $100,000 annually, while the RCMP paid about $86,000, according to the UBCM review of police wages.

– with files from Maria Rantanen, Richmond News