submitted by Alberta Municipalities
Alberta Municipalities (ABmunis) was dismayed to learn late last week that those member communities that contract local police services through Alberta’s RCMP owe $60 million to the federal government for the RCMP’s recent pay increase, which is retroactive to April 1, 2017.
Our association and other similar ones across the country were never consulted by the Government of Canada while it negotiated with the RCMP’s union for a pay raise. The federal government clearly failed to consider the severe financial repercussions this retroactive pay increase will have on the hundreds of communities that currently count on Alberta’s RCMP to meet their local policing needs. It is unfair and unreasonable to expect municipalities to find the additional funds needed to pay for this in their annual budgets.
Alberta Municipalities adds its voice to a growing nationwide call for the Government of Canada to reconsider its approach and absorb these one-time costs.
