Mayor Says City 'Stuck' With New RCMP Deal

Written by Peter McIntyre  107.5 KISSFM Tuesday, 10 April 2012 19:46
  Vernon's mayor says council didn't have much choice but to support BC's new 20 year deal for the RCMP.  Council signed-off on the agreement at their meeting Tuesday. Rob Sawatzky says the pact is negotiated between the province and feds, and municipalities are stuck with it. "It's like not being okay with gravity, what can we do about it? There's nothing we can say or do about it. All we can do is deal with it, short of coming up with your own police force. There has been some talk about that in the past and the costs and difficulties of switching would be quite significant." Sawatzky says the deal includes wage increases of 4.25 percent over three years, which the city had budgeted for. "We had estimated it would be between 1.5 and 2% a year and we have no control over those things. It's negotiated between the provincial and federal governments, and we on the local level are stuck with it, so it isn't a big surprise."