If the City of Richmond was hesitant about putting pen to paper on a new 20-year RCMP contract before - the quick must surely be showing on its nails after B.C. municipalities were blindsided by a previously unseen pay hike.
With the ink barely dry on the agreement signed by the provincial and federal justice ministers for a new two-decade long RCMP deal - a deal that was alleged to afford municipalities more input on cost control - B.C. cities were reeling last week after learning there would be seven separate pay increases for Mounties over the next three years.
The cities which carry an RCMP detachment have until the end of the month to individually ratify the contract endorsed by the province or opt out and create their own municipal or regional force.
For Richmond's mayor, Malcolm Brodie, all the latest development does is shine an unflattering light on the very heart of the issue that has irked the city for many a year.
"We're going into a new contract and one of the biggest complaints from the past is that the RCMP would simply pass on certain costs that we're just expected to pay," said the mayor.
"But (the new arrangement) was supposed to deal with this kind of problem. But right at the beginning, before we've even signed anything, we find out that nothing really has changed at all."
Brodie said the city got word right at the end of last week that there was going to be some costs involved that "we'd not even factored in before."
"We're still trying to get clarification, but it appears as if this was not budgeted."
And if the news of more multi millions of unbudgeted dollars are correct, Brodie said, when the mayors involved get together next week for talks on a way forward, he will demand answers from the RCMP as to why this was not on the radar.
"We're talking about a 20-year term, we must know exactly what we're getting into," he said.
"We definitely need some explanations and clarifications. I'm looking forward to meeting with the rest of the mayors on April 20."
