Vanthof announces funding to reduce policing costs for small municipalities

[Michael Jack]

John Vanthof, MPP/Deputé for Timiskaming-Cochrane, announced in a press release on December 2 that he got funding to reduce policing costs for small municipalities from the Solicitor General.

Vanthof said that many municipal councils got a shock this fall when they were made aware of their OPP policing costs for 2025. In some instances, the increased costs were more than 30 per cent.

The MPP highlighted that for smaller communities, these cost increases would translate to a direct municipal tax increase. Vanthof said that no one was disputing the value of the police, though the overall cost of the increase was “shocking”.

“Many municipal leaders made their case to the government and to the media. The mayors of Kirkland Lake, Cobalt and Latchford brought their concerns to my attention. I brought the issue to the floor of the legislature on November 6th in a question to the Minister of Finance,” Vanthof stated.

Vanthof said that in a previous exchange with Minister of Finance, Peter Bethlenfalvy, Bethlenfalvy pointed out that the government had increased the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund by almost 50 million annually.

Vanthof says that 50 million sounds like a large amount, but when you divide it among 400 municipalities, it isn’t that much.

“In my question I pointed out that the OMPF increase for Cobalt would be $16,600 in 2025, but the increases in policing costs would be $110,704. I asked the minister which basic services he suggested the town should cut to make up for the shortfall. The Solicitor General took the question and promised me he would investigate the issue.”

The previous week, the Solicitor General announced that an additional 77 million will go towards the issue to offset municipal policing costs for small municipalities.

“Our combined efforts resulted in a favourable response from the government. We will have to wait and see how the announced formula will impact each municipality, but it is finally a step in the right direction. I believe in working together to get results for northerners,” Vanthof concluded.

https://www.northernnews.ca/news/vantho ... cipalities