ONTARIO - More than half of Ontario municipalities policed by the OPP can expect to see their policing costs rise under the new billing model, according to new details released by the province.
The new model coming into effect Jan. 1, 2015 is changing how municipalities will be billed for policing services.
Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Yasir Naqvi and Insp. Bert McDonald with the OPP’s Municipal Policing Bureau provided an overview of the new model today (Aug. 14).
Municipalities will no longer be billed per household and will instead be charged per property, which puts commercial properties on the hook for policing costs.
The new model is also split into two categories — base costs, which makes up 60 per cent of the bill, and calls for service, making up 40 per cent.
Base costs cover crime prevention, proactive policing, officer training and administrative duties. It will be charged equally across the province, with an estimated 2015 cost of $203 per property. Calls for service, meanwhile, will vary in each municipality.
Of the 324 municipalities serviced by the OPP, the province expects 207 will see an increase of $100 or less per property and 115 will see a decrease of about $75 per property.
Naqvi said the province, through consultations with the OPP and municipalities, worked for the past two years to create the new system built around the recommendations made by the auditor general’s report in 2012.
“We’ve worked very hard with our municipal and policing partners to develop the new model,” he said. “It is a fair approach, it is an equitable approach and it is transparent and responsible approach.”
He said the new model is guided by three principles – ensuring municipalities pay their fair share, making current policing costs equally distributed, and making policing bills easier to understand.
He said the old system, created in 1998, is too complex, difficult to administer and does not provide municipalities with the information to control their policing costs.
For municipalities facing an increase, he said the cost will be capped and phased in over five years at $40 per property, and those looking at decreases will start at $18 in year one, and increase to $96 by year five.
“This will provide both stability and predictability to taxpayers and municipalities,” he added.
Naqvi said municipalities wanted businesses to start paying for policing out of fairness.
“The addition of commercial and industrial properties to the allocation of base costs was the result of feedback we received to ensure the new model more equitably distributes costs,” he said.
McDonald said the new model outlines all the costs, which should allow municipalities to spend their money more wisely.
To come up with the billing model’s costing split, he said the OPP looked at four year’s worth of historical police work to see where officers are spending their time.
For calls for service, he said municipalities will be charged based on their four-year average.
McDonald said calls for service include assaults, break and enters, drug offences, mental health and trespassing complaints, landlord tenant disputes, motor vehicle collisions and general calls for service.
Like the old system, the new billing model is revenue neutral.
“No additional money will come to the province because of this change,” Naqvi said. “The new model simply redistributes the cost amongst municipalities in a way that is more fair and equitable.”
The province and the OPP plan provide individual costing details to municipalities sometime this fall.
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