City council’s finance chair hopes the next Winnipeg Police Service wage and benefits agreement will account for what the city can afford.

Coun. Scott Gillingham (St. James-Brooklands-Weston) said he hopes provincial legislation expected to make affordability a key requirement for the province’s bargaining agreements will also extend to municipalities, including the collective agreement with the WPS.

Gillingham said that should help rein in the WPS budget, since salary and benefits make up about 83% of its expenses.

“I would like ability to pay to be something that has to be looked at,” said Gillingham. “Currently, that’s not the case.”

Premier Brian Pallister has yet to specify if his throne speech affordability pledge will extend to municipal agreements. And Finance Minister Cameron Friesen recently confirmed only that work on the legislation is still underway.

“Our government remains committed to introducing legislation to ensure that the province’s public sector costs do not exceed Manitoba’s ability to pay,” wrote Friesen in a recent email.

Meanwhile, salary, benefit and pension hikes have been blamed for much of a projected $5.1-million WPS deficit for 2016.

“Just under 85% of the police budget is labour costs, so salary and benefits. Those have been rising over the last 10 years at rates that I don’t believe are sustainable for taxpayers in the long run,” said Gillingham.

In a third-quarter financial update, WPS noted a 3% collective agreement wage hike at the start of the year and a $3.7-million cost hike for the city’s portion of police pensions as key causes of the deficit.

The head of the union for WPS officers believes making affordability a key bargaining goal threatens to prevent fair compensation for complex and dangerous work.

“If you want to feel safe in Winnipeg, in one of the most violent jurisdictions in Canada, you have to compensate the people that are showing up at your door (to protect you),” said Moe Sabourin, president of the Winnipeg Police Association.

Sabourin said wages must be kept high enough to attract quality candidates to the force, something he believes is already at risk.

The union also blames the city for WPS budget woes, noting a past council transferred millions of surplus dollars from the police pension plan to balance the city budget. He said that occurred during a property tax freeze that ended in 2012.

“The people that are saying that policing is not affordable are basing that on feeling and not on facts,” said Sabourin.

The current collective agreement for WPS members expired on Dec. 27. Bargaining is now underway for the next one.

jpursaga@postmedia.com

Twitter: @pursagawpgsun