B.C. mayors call on federal government to cover retroactive RCMP costs

Several B.C. communities arespeaking out against the federal government's decision to pass retroactive RCMP costs onto municipalities.

In its 2023 budget, the federal governmentindicated it willnot absorb retroactive costs associated with the RCMP collective bargaining agreement, despite requests from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) for federal support.

"It's terribly unfair certain municipalities were told to expect increases, but it ended up being a lot more than was discussed," said FCM acting president Scott Pearce.

He adds costs associated with the RCMP were negotiated by the federal government without the involvement of municipalities.

The projected costs for B.C. municipalities alone is expected to be between $138 million and $145 million, according to Pearce.

Pearce and mayors from B.C. municipalities are speaking out in hopes local governments will be included in future RCMP cost negotiations. They say the unexpectedly high costs are "unfair" to communities thatwill now face increased taxes andlimited budgets for services.

"Municipalities were not invited to the table, so the federal government was negotiating with our money," Pearce said.

"Municipalities are not allowed legally to finish with a deficit, so if you don't have that money somewhere, you're forced to basically cut services."

Varied costs

Costs will vary between municipalities, says Pearce, from a $4 million increase for Burnaby to over $30 million for Kamloops.

While some municipalities were warned ahead of time about increased costs, the amount in the end surpassed expectations, he said.

"[Prince George was] warned of increased costs so they put away $4 million. But now they're still on the hook for another $2.5 million," Pearce said.

In a release, Prince George Mayor Simon Yu said the city will utilize itsremaining COVID-19 "safe restart" fund to partially pay for the remaining expense.

"It is important that the federal government work collaboratively with local governments to ensure that policing services costs are handled fairly," Yu said.

'Money out of our budget'

SookeMayor Maja Tait says the community is "grateful" for the RCMP, but is frustrated by the lack of consultation with local governments.

"The rollout of the retro invoicing is all done behind closed doors It's difficult for municipalities when we're already faced with cost pressures.

"We saved, we were able to cover this, but other municipalities are really stretched for this," she said, adding municipalities in B.C. are also expected to cover costs for 911 fees and manage local budgets amid risinginflation.

Tait says more RCMP officers will be needed asthe community continues to grow. But the increase in costs means they've held off hiring more officers.

Fort St. John Mayor Lilia Hansen says they're looking at $1.4 million in retroactive costs this year for a community of 21,000.

"When we're taking that money out of our budget, that means we're not able to spend it on things that we need to build a welcoming community," Hansen said.