As Mounties celebrate pay raise, municipalities look to upcoming budget for federal help

Thousands of Mounties will see their salaries rise after today thanks to the force's first-ever collective agreement — but the group that represents municipalities across the country says many towns and cities need federal help to foot the bill.

Last summer, the federal government and the union representing RCMP members ratified an agreement to deliver a sizeable pay increase to nearly 20,000 members.

Starting Friday, constables — who account for more than half of all RCMP officers —  will be making up to $106,576 — a jump of $20,000 since April 2016.

The agreement also lays out retroactive pay increases to cover the period when the two sides were negotiating.

Taneen Rudyk, vice-president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, said municipalities weren't at the negotiating table and are now looking at massive bills that — depending on a municipality's size — can range from thousands of dollars to millions.

The cost of RCMP contract services in a municipality or region — including salaries and equipment — is split between Ottawa and other levels of government.

"What we were advised to prepare for, estimates of about 2.5 per cent per year, actually turned out to be far below the final agreement of 23.7 per cent over six years, which is retroactive pay going back to 2017. And we certainly can't manage with that kind of increase," said Rudyk, a councillor for the town of Vegreville, Alta., about an hour east of Edmonton.

Unlike other levels of government, municipalities can't run deficits.

"We have to make cuts in our services or else make some really difficult decisions with huge tax increases to our citizens," said Rudyk.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has asked the federal government to include money in next week's budget to cover municipalities' retroactive costs associated with implementing the new pay scale.

"We're certainly not talking about the calibre of policing or community support that we receive from the RCMP and we're certainly not talking about whether or not they deserve this retroactive aid," said Rudyk.

"What we're talking about is the very real fact that we were not consulted, we weren't at the negotiating table and the bill was given to us de facto. And that just doesn't work."

The National Police Federation, the RCMP's union, had been pushing to bring Mounties' salaries in line with other police agencies.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the RCMP needs to offer fair compensation to recruit and retain officers. He also hinted that talks are in the works to address the added cost to municipalities.

"The short answer is ... yes," he said Wednesday.

"We're working very closely with municipalities as well as with provincial governments who contract the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction."