At their regular meeting on Monday, June 14, 2021, Kimberley City Council approved in principle the contract strength of the Kimberley ECMP Detachment at eight full time members for the 2022/2023 fiscal year.
This is business as usual said City CAO Scott Sommerville, who explained that while the contract says eight full time members, given different types of leaves, the staffing is managed to the equivalent of seven full time members.
“Typically there are members off on various types of leaves,” he said. “They do their best to staff at seven.”
In a staff report, it was noted that historically, the practice of the City of Kimberley has been to provide a letter approving eight FTE members for the municipal police unit and subsequently requesting that the RCMP manage the local unit such that the actual number of FTE members utilized is maintained at seven.
The City budgets for seven FTE members and maintains a contract reserve fund, which sat at $377,464 at the end of 2020.
This reserve will likely come into play this year as it is expected that the new RCMP union contract will result in retroactive wages the City will have to pay.
“The reserve in place will cover the potential back pay,” said Mayor Don McCormick.
READ MORE: City of Kimberley has reserve fund for potential police contract increases
READ MORE: Kimberley council discusses budget unknowns such as RCMP costs
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