ST. PAUL - Although details are still sparse, the Town of St. Paul has expressed concern regarding possible financial impacts of wage negotiations that have been taking place between the federal government and RCMP.
The negotiations have been taking place for about five years, according to discussions during the July 26 Town of St. Paul council meeting.
"During that time neither municipalities nor their association representatives have been at the table. At present they have reached a tentative agreement," said CAO Kim Heyman. "We have received communication that from the AUMA (Alberta Urban Municipalities Association), that municipalities could well be charged with retroactive pay for five years... Given the 12 officers assigned to the town, we would be looking at a $600,000 hit to our budget based on the estimate of $50,000 per officer."
While it may be a one-time hit to the budget, it would put the town's policing costs from 10 per cent of the municipality's budget to 15 per cent of its operating budget.
"That would be a significant cost and one that could result in many services being withdrawn," said Heyman.
She added, "The AUMA position is that no one begrudges our RCMP a long overdue raise, but due to the length of negotiations for which the municipalities had no say, the federal government should pick up the retroactive pay."
Coun. Ron Boisvert asked if it was certain that the costs would fall on municipalities, to which Heyman responded, according to AUMA "there's a very good chance they're going to." She noted that "given all the downloading that's taken place" from the federal and provincial governments, "I think AUMA thinks it's a very good possibility they will."
"So the further question is, is this letter too late then?" asked Boisvert. Heyman said she did not believe it was too late.
Mayor Maureen Miller said she was on the call with AUMA about the topic. "They do not know how this is going to be collected," said Miller. "There was no discussion when this is going to be confirmed," although a general timeline of "early August" was noted.
"The challenge is, it could be collected in many ways," said Miller," adding, "We somehow need to send something... to say this is detrimental to our municipality, even though we are not denying the efforts we have been given by our RCMP."
Council approved a motion to write a letter about the challenges that the costs could have to the municipality.
The topic was briefly brought up at the Aug. 9 council meeting, but no new details were known.
The City of Cold Lake is expected to discuss the issue at its Aug. 10 council meeting.
