Municipalities have no choice but to pay OPP bill

[Michael Jack]

More equitable to whom? To the province? If the province really wants policing costs per household to be equitable throughout, why does the OPP not cover every municipality in Ontario? Why are municipal forces being maintained at often much higher costs per household than the OPP’s?

Tiny is a relatively safe community with a large seasonal population and a lower-than-average crime rate. As Ray Millar must well remember from his years on council, the OPP’s previous system was estimating the township’s policing costs for the upcoming year based on an expected average. At the end of the year, the township could qualify for a rebate as a result of its residents’ good behaviour. Now, that was equitable.

The OPP’s rebate system to those townships and municipalities requiring fewer services is now gone. At the same time, the townships have no commitment from the OPP that service levels will be increased to reflect their calculated “average.”

There are few options available. Under provincial law, Tiny has to provide policing services and the OPP’s costs have to be paid for. Whether one agrees with the amount or not, council has no choice but to incorporate the arbitrary amount provided by the OPP in their budget.

The concern of every Tiny and other rural resident should be the province’s downloading of policing costs to the townships. Worse, the modelling method makes it very easy to download even more OPP costs in the future. “Equitable,” eh? Hmmm...

http://www.simcoe.com/opinion-story/556 ... -opp-bill/