In 2008, 347 Vancouver Police Department employees took home six-figure salaries, according to remuneration documents released on an annual basis. Five years later, 794 officers made more than $100,000 per year.

And in Vancouver fire halls in 2013, about 125 people employed by Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services earned more than $100,000, according to a list of city wages released in response to a freedom-of-information request.

Police and firefighters’ rising salaries are identified in the City of Vancouver’s budget for 2015 as accounting for one percent of a proposed 2.4-percent property-tax increase.

That document, which goes to council on March 3, identifies public-safety wages as the largest of four “major cost increase drivers”. It notes that in 2014, both the Vancouver Police Union and the Vancouver Firefighters Union reached collective agreements above those of other city bargaining units.

“It is anticipated that this pressure will continue in future years as public safety arbitrated results continue to drive costs higher than inflation and other bargaining units,” it adds.

In a telephone interview, Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs noted that the city pushed back in those negotiations.

“We did go to arbitration, and the arbitrator, I would say, found very much in the favour of the Vancouver Police Union,” Meggs told the Straight. “It’s something that was debated for a long time at the arbitration table, and I don’t propose to revisit those arguments. But that is a key part of the tax pressure this year.”

For 2015, the city is proposing to spend $221 million on the VPD operating budget. Under NPA leadership in 2007, that number was $189 million.

NPA councillor George Affleck said it is seldom a politician hears constituents complain about increased spending on public safety. “But you have to live within your means,” he added. “They have had significant increases overall since I was elected.”

Affleck said he has questions about why police and firefighter salaries have increased in recent years.

Tom Stamatakis is president of the Vancouver Police Union. In a telephone interview, he said there are legitimate reasons for officers to take home six-figure salaries.

“Most police officers now have postsecondary degrees; many speak more than one language; policing by itself has become more complex; there are higher standards now and more oversight,” he said. “Those things all drive costs.”

The department is also seeing existing staff cover for more than 60 vacancies, Stamatakis continued. “That means somebody’s got to pick up the slack,” he said. “When people work overtime, their salaries reflect that increased level of income.”