More money is required to cowl a brand new collective bargaining settlement labored out with RCMP personnel
![The emergency services building in Langdon, east of Calgary, which houses the fire department and RCMP.](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/calgaryherald/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/20230228JW016-copy.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&h=216&sig=A6m9GDAiPl1odwxYE7m9CQ)
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Municipalities in Alberta say they have been hit by Ottawa to cowl $60 million in RCMP reimbursement — spending that may tax a few of them.
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And the pinnacle of Alberta Municipalities stated that is ammunition the provincial authorities might use in any push to interchange the Mounties with a provincial police power.
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The cities and cities that rely on the Mounties for policing say the federal price range launched this week makes it clear they are going to shoulder the burden of unexplained and unbudgeted bills after a brand new collective bargaining settlement is labored out with RCMP workers .
Many will probably be compelled to chop again in different areas to cowl the additional prices and have had no say within the matter, stated Taneen Rudyk, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
“The federal authorities’s refusal to soak up these prices — which had been primarily negotiated with municipal cash however not with municipal enter — just isn’t acceptable,” Rudyk stated in a press release.
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“Municipal councils will probably be compelled to make extremely troublesome selections, corresponding to slicing important providers or passing the invoice on to residents, at a time when Canadians’ considerations about native security and the price of dwelling are already growing.”
She additionally famous that municipalities usually are not allowed by legislation to run deficits and have restricted choices to lift income.
Selecting up that tab will value Alberta municipalities $60 million and the province one other $80 million to cowl the prices of smaller cities, stated Cathy Heron, the mayor of St. Albert and president of Alberta Municipalities, stated.
“We knew it was coming for a very long time, however we simply did not know that (municipalities) ended up underestimating the associated fee – it is a large hit,” Heron stated.
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![Cathy Heron, mayor of St. Albert, said the city would have to pay an extra $3 million.](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/calgaryherald/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Cathy-Heron.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&sig=dlZlXxc6eT5B2Tel2Ozy3w)
“We weren’t on the desk, however they negotiated with our wallets.”
It should St. Albert prices an additional $3 million and though town budgeted for it simply northwest of Edmonton, “I might relatively maintain that cash and spend it on one thing else,” she stated.
Below the brand new collective settlement, these prices will probably be retroactive to 2017, and a few municipalities in Alberta which have contracts with the RCMP if their inhabitants exceeds 5,000 will probably be hit laborious, stated Paul McLauchlin, president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta.
“It is a fairly vital invoice for municipalities with over 5,000 individuals, I’ve seen some payments over $1 million,” he stated, including the FCM was in common contact with the federal authorities on the difficulty and hoped for higher.
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“It was actually a disappointment. That is actually myopic on the a part of the federal authorities and it comes on the worst time for municipalities.”
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It comes as its members have already seen different policing prices dumped on them, McLauchlin stated.
Heron stated some municipalities in Alberta are overlaying the additional prices with one-time levies and even decreasing their RCMP workers “making communities much less protected.”
The FCM stated the city of Hinton, with a inhabitants of about 10,000, must pony up an additional $750,000.
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Airdrie, simply north of Calgary, can pay one other $2.4 million, Mayor Peter Brown stated.
“We anticipated this invoice to come back, however the course of was flawed from the start,” stated Brown, who governs a metropolis of practically 80,000 individuals.
“Many particulars in all of this had been by no means ironed out, so in fact we had been by no means a part of the method and that’s the largest frustration.”
![An RCMP cruiser blocks a road as officers investigate a crime scene near Airdrie on February 18, 2020.](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/calgaryherald/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/airdrie.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&sig=Z6g1VNUJaVTxi_5_9bO35g)
He stated Airdrie has already budgeted about $1.6 million for the extra policing prices “and that extra $600,000 might not seem to be a lot, however with the rising value of dwelling, we’d like each nickel we are able to get to help our development.”
Brown stated he did not disapprove of higher pay for RCMP officers, including that they had been behind their municipal cousins in Alberta by way of pay.
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RCMP members’ final collective settlement expired in 2016 and underneath the brand new settlement, commissioned officers will obtain a 1.75 per cent pay enhance for annually between 2017 and 2023.
Dropping that expense would not make the prospect of a provincial police power in Alberta — an idea pushed by the UCP authorities — any extra engaging, Brown stated.
“We actually do not know the affect of a provincial police power and we’re very proud of the service offered by the RCMP,” Brown stated.
“Perhaps that might doubtlessly be an choice as we develop (as a metropolis).
St. Albert’s Heron stated it would not change her metropolis’s dedication to the RCMP, however it provides the province an argument in its efforts — which have been stalled for now — to herald a provincial police power.
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“That is why we’ve got communities like Grande Prairie which have determined to take over their policing,” stated Heron, referring to a call earlier this month by the northwestern Alberta metropolis to create their very own police service.
The PCP authorities cited uncertainty with RCMP contracts and rising prices amongst its causes for choosing a provincial police power.
Changing the Mounties with a provincial various stays unpopular with most Albertans, based on polls.
Officers with the federal Ministry of Public Security, which oversees the RCMP, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
BKaufmann@postmedia.com
Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn
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