Cops in Kelowna are about to share in a $1.1 million back pay windfall.
The earnings, retroactiveto 2014, will be paid by the city out of a reserve account Kelowna has been building up since the last federally approved pay rate for RCMP officers across the country expired in 2014.
With the federal treasury board finally approving a 1.25-per-cent increase as of Jan. 1, 2015 and another 1.25-per-cent hike as of Jan. 1, 2016 in April of this year, the city is ready to provide the money to the city’s 170 full-time RCMP officers.
According to city corporate and protective services divisional director Rob Mayne, the retroactive pay increase was anticipated—hence the build up of the reserve account—but it is not part of the city’s current financial plan.
City council will be asked to approve the payment and amend the city’s financial plan to reflect the payment at today’s council meeting.