City faces $1.1-million bill for retroactive RCMP pay

Kelowna has been putting aside money annually to cover cost of payments going back to 2015

Members of Kelowna’s RCMP detachment are going to share $1.1 million in retroactive pay.

A reserve policing account will be used to cover the back payments, according to a report going to city council today.

The most recent pay agreement for RCMP officers expired on Dec. 31, 2014. The federal Treasury Board did not approve a new pay package, covering 2015 and 2016, until April 2017.

“We certainly anticipated this was coming and we’ve been putting money away annually in a reserve to cover these costs,” said Rob Mayne, a city divisional director.

Salary increases for police through 2015 and 2016 were set at 4.8 per cent, with a total cost of $1.1 million, including regular and overtime pay, senior constable allowance and corresponding pension increases.

The Kelowna RCMP has about 170 fulltime members, so the retro payments, including benefits, work out to about $6,500 per member.

Currently, the starting salary for an RCMP constable anywhere in Canada is $53,144, rising to $69,000 after six months’ service and topping out at $86,110.

The salary range for an RCMP corporal is $86,621-$94,292. For a sergeant, it’s $95,153-$102,775.

The starting salary for RCMP constables is lower than in most municipal police forces. The City of Calgary, for example, has a salary range for constables of between $69,680 and $104,021.

In Victoria, salaries for constables range between $68,447 and $112,000.

To protest such pay differences, RCMP officers on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, and in Ottawa and Halifax, earlier this year covered up the distinctive yellow stripe on their pant legs with pink duct tape or wore non-regulation pants.

The National Police Federation, one of three groups trying to form a union to represent RCMP officers, has criticized the retro increases for 2015 and 2016 as insufficient.

“This does very little in moving the RCMP into a competitive range to attract and retain qualified candidates,” the federation said in April. “This new pay package will have minimal impact in advancing us from 72nd out of 80 Canadian police forces on pay.”