Steep OPP increases have mayors eyeing police levels

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?

Steep OPP increases have mayors eyeing police levels

Postby Thomas » Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:38 pm

ALMAGUIN – Area mayors are crying foul at the steep cost increase coming with the new Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) billing model.

Glenn Miller, reeve of Ryerson, said the increases are “disgusting.”

“We fought it, and fought it, and fought it,” he said. “There’s no other thing we can do. But there’s got to be something we can get changed on this.

“[The government] should spend a lot of time working out a fair and equitable system. Small municipalities really hurt.”

Ryerson has a projected cost of $161,953 in 2019. For 2015, they are to pay an estimated $78,000: almost $25,000 more than 2014.

In order to cut costs, Ryerson will be looking in every area of the municipality.

“We will take cost cutting measures as best we can, he said. “[Taxpayers are] the only source of income. Unfortunately, we have to pass these costs onto the taxpayers unless our clerk or our deputy clerk can come up with creative accounting.”

Sam Dunnett, mayor of Magnetawan, said the increase will negatively impact most municipalities.

“It’s going to be rough,” he said. “It’s going to be tough on all municipalities.”

“[The OPP] are running a very fine line.”

Dunnett said the billing model needs to be looked at, as well as the services being provided.

“It’s not a fair way to do that at all,” he said. “They have to look at the model.”

“It’s a matter of looking at the whole model,” he said. “They must look at asset management.

“How can we [pay] when we’re being downloaded 200-300 per cent in one area?”

“We have to look at our own service levels and find the efficiencies within them,” he said.

The increases have forced Magnetawan to think about lowering levels of service.

“Can we lower these level of services?” He asked. “The OPP has really gone wild, there’s no question about that. They have generated a cost by themselves and we’re supposed to accept it.”

“They have to look back at the basic model,” he said, returning to his first point. “Do we really need someone with stripes on their shoulder asking if you’ve had a drink that day?

“I am not complaining about the program. I am simply complaining about the cost of that program.”

“We’re going to have to pay it because we’re partners, and I say that in quotations,” he said. “We don’t have a choice.”

“It’s terrible the way their costs have gone.”

“When municipalities have to go into that much of debt for service, they have to go back and look at the model of service.”

Bruce Baker, mayor of Joly, wonders where municipalities will get the money.

“I don’t know how they think municipalities like ours can afford this,” he said. “And what do we get out of it? It’s pretty expensive.”

Joly has a projected cost of a little less than $70,000 by 2019, when in previous years the township has paid around $20,000.

“I don’t know where this money goes to,” he said.

“This shouldn’t happen, that’s all.”

“We took a vote on it, and nobody wants it,” he said. “There’s lots of stuff we’re going to have to consider.”

Lynda Carleton, mayor of Machar, wondered when the increases will end.

“It’s a huge impact on small municipalities,” she said. “I’m just wondering where the ceiling is and where it ends.”

“60 per cent is just the base,” she said. “There will still be costs for service added.”

“We are bracing ourselves,” she said. “It’s not fair to taxpayers.”

“We are still juggling, doing budgets and numbers,” she said. “Everybody is in the same boat and that’s the problem. They have to come up with a new formula. Where does it end?”

Like many other municipalities seeing a steep increase, Carleton said this forces the municipality to cut back in other services.

“We don’t want to do that,” she said. “But the taxes are through the roof. We’re trying to make it a little more fair for everybody.”

“I don’t really know what the answer is. We’re at their mercy, really.”

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