Quesnel and Williams Lake will not be getting any help when it comes to picking up the tab for RCMP retro pay costs.
Quesnel City Councillor Laurey-Anne Roodenburg, also Past President of UBCM, says their request for the federal government to pick up the tab has fallen on deaf ears.
“The federal government has said that they would not cover off the cost of retro pay for the RCMP services. UBCM, along with FCM which is the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, co-signed a letter saying we understand that the RCMP has to be paid fairly but you did not have local government at the table. We are the ones that have to foot the bill and you didn’t have us at the table when you were negotiating this pay increase
Roodenburg says they are now looking ahead as new negotiations are underway.
The retro pay this time around, dating back to 2017, will cost the City of Quesnel 662 thousand dollars and Williams Lake more than 700 thousand.
Fortunately, both have been putting money aside.
100 Mile House, because it is under 5,000 people, won’t be impacted.