Wasaga Beach, Midland and Collingwood were facing policing cost increases of 25% — or more

[Michael Jack]

Wasaga Beach, Midland and Collingwood were facing policing cost increases of 25% — or more. Here’s what the mayors of those communities are saying about the province’s plan to provide $77M to help municipalities struggling with higher OPP bills

The provincial government’s commitment to help municipalities cover increases in their 2025 bills from the Ontario Provincial Police is being welcomed by Simcoe County mayors.

“It sure helps,” Midland Mayor Bill Gordon told Simcoe.com in an email.

On Friday, Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner announced the province would come to the table with $77 million for municipalities to offset the increased cost of municipal policing services provided by the OPP.

More than 330 Ontario municipalities receive policing services from the OPP. For 2025, a number of those municipalities were facing significant hikes in policing costs, thanks to a new contract with front-line officers and civilian staff, and a return to pre-pandemic workloads for court security and prisoner transport.

The Town of Midland, for example, was facing a $1-million hike in its bill from the OPP. Gordon said the province’s proposal of a 10 per cent bill reduction on the 2025 bill works out to a savings of around $500,000.

The province’s proposal includes a 3.75 per cent bill reduction on 2023 reconciled costs, and a 44 per cent bill reduction on 2023 overtime costs.

The government will also continue an annual $125 million court security and prisoner transportation transfer payment program for 2025.

The province will also review the OPP billing model to ensure that “it meets the needs of communities across the province,” according to a news release from the government.

“The premier assured me that he’d heard from enough mayors about the sudden cost increases and how unsustainable those increases were — and that we’d get some relief announced by the end of the month,” Gordon said, noting the email from the province, coming on a Friday afternoon, was “welcomed.”

Collingwood Mayor Yvonne Hamlin also lauded the announcement. The town faced a 37 per cent hike, or an extra $2 million for an annual policing bill of $7.1 million, and the funding from the province cuts that increase in half.

Council was looking at an overall 6.96 per cent tax hike for 2025, and with the reduction in OPP costs, that increase is now 4.52 per cent.

“We provided significant feedback from Collingwood to the province about the initial increase. I am happy that our concerns were acted upon,” she said.

Wasaga Beach Mayor Brian Smith said he had a conversation about the issue with Simcoe-Grey MPP Brian Saunderson on Friday ahead of the announcement. He said as a result of the funding, the overall 3.96 per cent tax increase proposed to council, prior to the initial 2025 bill from the OPP, can likely stand.

“I’m happy that the solicitor general and the premier heard our plea, and listened and came to the table,” Smith said. “This is huge for 330 smaller municipalities in the province.”

Smith said the announcement meant more than $1 million in “financial relief” for Wasaga Beach.

Gordon said his community still faces a significant increase for OPP services without any new or enhanced services, “but I will happily take this discount and find ways to pass it along to our beleaguered ratepayers.”

During a Simcoe County council meeting in November, during which the issue was discussed, Gordon recommended calling on the province to put the issue of the fairness of OPP’s billing formula to Ontario’s auditor general. He said he stands by his position that the billing model — which is based on the number of properties in a municipality, and a proportional share of calls for service across all OPP detachments — is flawed.

“Municipalities should not be paying for the police service to exist and for staff to be on duty — and also then pay a premium for each call they do,” said Gordon, a former police officer who served with the Midland Police Service. “This is not how non-OPP police budgets are structured and if the OPP priced their services as an ‘all-in’ cost per household like everyone else does, municipalities would see the OPP is not a cheaper option — and that policing is expensive, no matter who delivers the service.”

https://www.simcoe.com/news/wasaga-beac ... 4d47f.html