City wants to change Winnipeg police pension plan through bylaw amendment

With years of negotiations resulting in no agreement, the city of Winnipeg wants to amend a bylaw to make substantial changes to the police pension plan.

A report to the city's executive policy committee (EPC) asserts the plan given to police officers provides benefits not available in other major pension plans, has an imbalance of contributions and is too expensive.

The City of Winnipeg said it contributes more to the police pension plan than its members do — they are allowed to count overtime as pensionable earnings, and can retire early and receive payments for 40 or more years.

"It's one of the most expensive plans in the country and it becomes an issue of affordability and sustainability going forward," interim city chief administrative officer Mike Ruta told reporters on Tuesday.

The Winnipeg Police Association said the city's move "shows bad faith," and called the amendment "a high-handed attempt by the mayor and the city administration to simply grab something which they could not achieve through negotiation."

Maurice Sabourin, president of the WPA, said in a statement that he was surprised by the bylaw amendment.

"In June of 2017, Mayor Bowman voted for the collective agreement we had negotiated, calling it 'the longest and most sustainable' agreement in almost 20 years. Now he wants to turn around and rip up that agreement," Sabourin said.

Sabourin said the amendment is an "overreach" on the city's part, and called on city council to address it.

Pension contributions disproportionate: city

According to the report to EPC in 2019, the city contributes 18.48 per cent of pensionable earnings, while members of the WPS contribute eight per cent of earnings.

The city said that is "disproportionately high compared to other similar pension plans."

In contrast, the plan covering all other City of Winnipeg employees is based on an equal split of contributions by employee and employer.

The city reviewed pension plans for police services in six other cities.

It found only Saskatoon included overtime unrestricted in pensionable earnings. Contributions by members in other cities are higher than in Winnipeg, and most plans contain long service requirements if members retire before age 60.

City eyes $12M in savings through changes

Amendments to the Winnipeg Police pension bylaw would come into effect on January 1, 2020 — if they are passed by a majority of council — and would save the city $1.5 million annually by ending the practice of counting overtime as pensionable earnings.

The city said those funds would be earmarked for police operations.

Equalizing contributions over a five year period to 11.5 per cent by both the city and pension members would save $5 million. The city would save another $5.5 million by altering early retirement provisions and adding a reduction in pension if retirement is started before age 55, or age 60 if service with the city is less than 20 years.

Ruta said it would be part of the city's overall budget deliberations to decide where the extra savings would go.

"In terms of the use of the additional amounts that [the city] would be saving from this, it would be up to council to determine," Ruta said.

Mayor Brian Bowman told reporters it would be up to the senior officers at the WPS to determine how they might spend the $1.5 million in savings earmarked for them, potentially for front–line policing.

"Right now we know it's the most generous pension in the country and what I want to see is a smarter allocation of that money," Bowman said.

Bowman said the other savings could be used to improve "the overall health of the community."