Grande Prairie city council has voted to defer nearly $4 million in retroactive salary payments to the local RCMP detachment until March 2025. The cost stemmed from the Government of Canada’s collective agreement with the National Police Federation, which resulted in a retroactive salary cost increase for the period of January 1st, 2017 through March 31st, 2022.
Councillor Dylan Bressey says the $3.9 million has already been found and earmarked to go toward the retroactive payback, however, financially, it makes sense for the municipality to defer. Bressey adds some municipalities across Alberta aren’t in the same kind of position, and the lump sum payment is a hot-button conversation.
“It’s not going further into debt, but it is money the city has set aside and does collect interest on, and we may as well keep on collecting interest as long as we can,” he says. “The amount was surprising, and in the City of Grande Prairie, we were fortunate enough to save enough, but, for some municipalities, it’s creating pretty significant hardships.”
Bressey adds during the negotiation process, the municipality was made aware of the potential payback requirement but admits the total surpassed expectations.
“When the RCMP went into collective bargaining, we were told to save up and expect a 16 per cent salary increase; we have seen a 24 per cent salary increase,” he says. “It’s a large sum of money, and we are paying it when it comes due, but it doesn’t make sense to pay earlier than we need to.”
According to a committee report, the city currently has $3.8M in reserves and $521K recorded as an accrued payable, which supports the $3.9 million obligation for retroactive pay.
