Any pay increases for RCMP members in Kamloops have already been paid for by city taxpayers.
The RCMP has estimated an annual member pay increase of 2.5 per cent, which would mean a retroactive financial impact of approximately $3,600 per member for the 2018 calendar year.
City Finance Director Kathy Humphrey says the city is using a Police Reserve Fund.
“We knew that this was coming and that they were working with a contract and so in working with the RCMP,” said Humphrey. “We have put the potential increase of $500,000 into our budget so for that increase we are prepared.”
According to a circular from the Union of B.C. Municipalities, while the RCMP is still working through the process of certifying a bargaining agent, the most recent pay package for its members expired on January 1, 2017.
“Every year we have extra money that we didn’t use, it goes into a police reserve,” Humphrey added. “So as the RCMP contracts increase, and as we add more members, we have a three-year plan to use the RCMP reserve to gradually increase the tax funding of it, so it doesn’t happen all at once.”