Prince George, B.C. –  The  Treasury Board has approved  pay increases for  regular members of the RCMP, but  the City of Prince George  has yet to  see how, or if,  the increase will  impact its budget.

The increases approved  are for 2015  and 2016  and  will see  regular members salaries boosted by 1.25%  retroactive to January 1st,  2015,   another 1.25%  effective January 1, 2016,  plus   a  “market adjustment” of 2.3% retroactive to  April 1st of last year.

The City of Prince George had been preparing for the boost  says Chris Dalio, Director of Finance  ” The RCMP made us aware of this potential contingency early on, and it was in the  neighbourhood of $1.3 million dollars.   We’ve gone about setting aside  that money in contingency, also with the surplus  from  last year’s savings in the police budget.”

Dalio says what is not known at this point  is  how those  percentage increases translate into  dollars ” I  was given a dollar figure of $1.3 million, but not the percentage that made that  up, so now that they’ve sent us information about a percentage,  I don’t yet know  what dollar figure that equates to.”

He says  based on the messages the City has received so far,  it sounds  like  the  settlement is actually less  than what  has been  set aside ” I think it’s  probably gong to come in at $1.3  or under that.”  He says  the actual dollar figures won’t be known until the RCMP calculates what the increases mean per municipality the force serves.

Protective services are the single highest budget expenditure  in Prince George,  with the  police contract  budgeted for just over $21 million dollars.    That amount does not include  operations, community policing or victim services.