Township facing 'most challenging' budget in years

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?

Township facing 'most challenging' budget in years

Postby Thomas » Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:25 am

The long-serving mayor of Oro-Medonte Township says the 2015 budget is the "most challenging" he's ever worked on.

Harry Hughes doesn't foresee deliberations, which began in December, wrapping up until at least mid-April.

"The demands on our budget are profound," he said. "Normally, we'd have it approved by now."

Changes legislated at the provincial level have led to significant increases beyond the township's control in various areas, Hughes said.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services' decision to change the OPP costing formula effective Jan. 1, which has led to a bigger bill for the township to tackle, is only part of the problem, the mayor said: "We really got hit by a double whammy on the policing."

In the past, the budget included an Ontario Municipal Partnership (OMP) grant, which helped offset the cost of stretching services throughout the township.

"The province, in its wisdom, decided at the same time that they increased the cost of policing dramatically to take away what amounts to 3% in our budget in OMP grant funding," Hughes said, noting it had been earmarked to help deal with the rise in the cost of having Barrie OPP police Oro-Medonte.

In the past, on rural municipal roads, lines were mainly painted at curves and on hills, Hughes said, noting now it's legislated the lines have to cover much more ground.

"It doesn't sound like much, but when you've got between 700 and 800 kilometres of roads to paint, that's a big buck," he said.

The fact the township is going to be required to put up more expensive guardrails in more locations is also driving numbers up.

"That's a new one that's been dumped on us," Hughes said.

The cost of replacing a worn-out bridge is going to be higher than anticipated, he said, adding the previous council was anticipating it would be between $600,000 and $700,000.

"With all the new requirements put upon us for bridging, that bridge is going to cost us $1.5 million," he said.

Hughes is concerned about the cost of implementing the new fire master plan received as information by the township last year.

In this year's budget, two major requests from the fire master plan are up for consideration: $640,000 for a new fire station near Shanty Bay and $250,000 for a new tanker-pumper at one of the township's stations near Rugby.

The township has already purchased the land for the new Shanty Bay fire station, which will be the its seventh. It's to be located on Line 3 South near Ridge Road.

"It isn't like this is a surprise. We've known for a number of years these costs were coming. We have money in our capital budget to be able to address those," Hughes said.

The plan has to be implemented in stages, but balancing service levels throughout that process while looking ahead to the future is a challenge, he said.

"There are a number of concerns to ensure that we have not only good protection, but to make sure that all residents of the township are getting the same level of protection," Hughes said.

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