Taxpayers could pay double for OPP service

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?

Taxpayers could pay double for OPP service

Postby Thomas » Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:57 pm

Taxpayers could pay double for OPP service as new billing model looms

Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) advises Province of concerns about affordability for OPP services

(KAWARTHA LAKES) Ward 8 Councillor Donna Villemaire says the possibility that taxpayers policed by OPP will face a near-doubling of their cost will likely once again open the debate on whether the City of Kawartha Lakes should adopt one police force.

For the last few months, municipalities have been aware the OPP are bringing forward a new billing model, and as the City’s representative at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), Coun. Villemaire said the cost of policing and how smaller municipalities can afford it has been a primary concern.

“It will ultimately be the Province who decides on what billing model the OPP use, and AMO has sent them a report outlining its concerns and recommendations,” she said in an interview on Wednesday (April 9).

At the previous day’s council meeting, Mayor Ric McGee also expressed concern, telling council the cost per household for those policed by OPP could hit $349 per year.

READ MORE: Peterborough Townships' Eyeing Significant Increase To Policing Costs http://www.oppblock.org/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=352&sid=82533b87977ecac258e1b2311b4160bf

Coun. Villemaire also chairs the Community Policing Advisory Committee (CPAC), which includes fellow councillors David Hodgson, Gerald McGregor, Steve Strangway and Pat Warren. She said she will be presenting AMO’s report to them at a meeting early next week. While she doesn’t know an exact date, the new billing model is expected very soon.

“We will review the impact of higher OPP policing costs on the municipality,” she said, “but, we don’t know what the billing model is yet. What we do know is the service level, which right now is basic, will remain the same. But, the per-household cost could conceivably double.”

Coun. Villemaire provided numbers from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) that show as of 2014, the OPP serve 27,604 area households. Kawartha Lakes Police serve 9,313 households in Lindsay and 1,966 in Ops Township.

Lindsay households currently pay $620.76 and Ops residents pay $458.01 for Kawartha Lakes Police service. The OPP-serviced households pay $195.70.

But, MPAC also shows how costs increased significantly between 2005 and 2011.

In 2011, the City spent $3.8 million on policing; $1.4 million of that was on OPP. That led council to create a Policing Task Force in 2012 - of which Coun. Villemaire was a member - to examine those rising costs.

In 2011, the cost for Lindsay (about $2.1 million) and Ops (almost $350,000) policing rose 39 per cent over 2005, while the OPP cost (more than $1.3 million) was up 25.1 per cent.

That shows what municipalities are facing, Coun. Villemaire noted. She said AMO is concerned that smaller municipalities will not be able to afford OPP service. The current billing for OPP is, in AMO’s view, unfair, as “some municipalities pay as little as nine dollars per household and others pay as much as $1,000.”

Taxpayers could pay double for OPP service as new billing model looms

Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) advises Province of concerns about affordability for OPP services

At present, she said, there is no clear indication of how the new billing model will impact taxpayers or how municipalities can afford it. It is CPAC’s role, she said, to determine what that impact will be and how it could be phased in.

“CPAC is certainly concerned about the rising cost of policing; now, we’re trying to gain a better understanding of the impact of a new OPP billing model. But, for example, Durham Region [households] pay $742 each for Durham Police; in general, a municipal service costs more.”

She conceded that, in recent years, any councillor trying to get a cost comparison for OPP to service the entire City failed to win council support.

Coun. Villemaire warned the reserve the City traditionally uses to mitigate OPP costs could be eliminated under the new billing model. Each year, the OPP estimate the cost of their services, which usually exceeds the actual cost. The ‘overage’ goes into a reserve that council then uses to reduce the per-household cost to the taxpayers.

“But, with this new billing model, there won’t be a reserve any more; we will be billed for basic service and the number of calls for service,” Coun. Villemaire explained.

The new model is expected in the very near future, she said. “Right now, AMO has sent its report to the Province, who will make the decision on what model the OPP will use. But, what is the Province going to do to help municipalities afford rising police costs? If enough municipalities say ‘no’, it might force the Province and the OPP to review this.”

http://www.mykawartha.com/news-story/44 ... del-looms/
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