Small municipalities unite against OPP billing

Obscenely high and unsustainable policing costs. OPP bills are destroying communities its officers are supposed to protect. Apparent self-interest is cloaked in the guise of public safety needs. Where is the political outrage while OPP costs continue to climb? Who is going to bring policing costs in this province under control?

Small municipalities unite against OPP billing

Postby Thomas » Fri May 16, 2014 4:23 pm

Many of Ontario's smallest municipalities are calling on the province to take back their policing costs.

East Ferris Mayor Bill Vrebosch, representing communities with populations of less than 5,000, says they're calling on the province to once again assume responsibility for policing small municipalities.

The move comes after the communities banded together recently in opposition of a proposed new Ontario Provincial Police billing model.

Vrebosch said policing for communities with populations fewer than 5,000 were the responsibility of the province up until the late 1990's when the Conservative government of the day downloaded an estimated $6.4 billion in costs to municipalities. At that time, he said small communities were charged $95 per household for policing.

But Vrebosch says East Ferris residents, who now pay $134 per household, could end up shelling out about $400 per household if the proposed changes in the way the OPP charges municipalities for its services move ahead.

“This thing has been flawed from the beginning,” he said, suggesting the proposed new billing model is the result of a “knee-jerk” reaction by the ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to complaints from some municipalities their policing costs are too high.

Vrebosch doesn't dispute that the current billing system is broken, with some communities paying as little as $5 per household and others as much as $1,000 per household. But he suggested what's being proposed isn't a solution.

“The range is unbelievable,” he said. “How did this get so out of whack in the first place?”

Municipalities are currently charged for OPP policing based on call volume and percentage of detachment workload and other expenses.

The proposed new model is aimed at evening out per household costs across the province, with a billing formula using a fixed base amount, plus an additional charge for calls for service.

Under the new model, all municipalities served by OPP would pay an equal per household share of essential base level services, including supervisory and administrative positions, as well as a portion of proactive front-line duties such as patrol, RIDE and crime prevention. In addition, each municipality would also pay a separate charge based on the number and types of calls for service.

Initially, Vrebosch said the fixed amount was pegged at 78% of the total price. But he said a 60% fixed costs and 40% variable costs formula is now being considered.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) is willing to accept a 60/40 spit between fixed and variable costs and is suggesting a blended formula based on weighted assessment and per household costs in order to determine how much municipalities are charged.

AMO is also calling for the new model, which is supposed to take effect in 2015, to be phased-in for communities that will see increases and to be implemented immediately for those that will see decreases. In addition, the organization is calling for mitigation funding to help communities deal with the costs.

Vrebosch said the group of communities with populations less than 5,000, however, are opposed to a per household charge.

In East Ferris, he said the cost for policing will rise, although additional service isn't required.

Vrebosch said per household also doesn't include commercial and industrial properties. Plus, many small communities are home to seasonal households users who don't generate year-round calls for service.

Both AMO and the smaller communities, however, are calling for unincorporated areas to charged the same base costs as the rest of the province.

Vrebosch said municipalities with population of less than 5,000 want the province to require unincorporated to pay more for policing, social services and other such costs.

He said the province, which is responsible for levying land tax from property owners in unorganized areas pays about $72 million for the services, yet only collects about $6 million.

So far, Vrebosch said about 120 of the province's 293 communities with populations of less than 5,000 have backed the call for the province to take back policing costs and to charge unincorporated areas their fair share.

Vrebosch said the group also wants him to be included on a provincial committee that's looking at the new billing model.

http://www.nugget.ca/2014/05/16/small-m ... pp-billing
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