This afternoon, when Essa Township holds its committee of the whole meeting, council members will hear two options to reduce its policing costs next year, something neither Oro-Medonte nor Springwater townships have yet to receive.
According to a presentation that's scheduled to be made by the Ontario Provincial Police’s Nottawasaga detachment commander, Insp. Dave McLagan, the township, which is facing a policing cost of about $3.62 million next year, an increase of about $620,000 (or 17.1 per cent), will hear it has the opportunity to reduce its bill by either $140,000 or $334,000.
“Cancel two constable enhancement positions and one detachment administrative clerk (DAC) effective Dec. 31, 2024,” McLagan wrote on a presentation slide titled ‘2025 Billing Statement Options to Reduce Increase’.
“In consultation with the Municipal Policing Bureau, Financial Services Unit and the Service Delivery Model project team, the two school resource officer positions can be absorbed into the current detachment staffing model and would then fall under the standard billing model," he added. “The DAC position, due to the reduction in workload from online criminal record checks, can be eliminated from the detachment staffing."
This would result in a savings of approximately $140,000.
The second option would provide an additional $200,000 in savings.
“Cancel all Nottawasaga detachment enhancement positions for a savings of approximately $334,377 to Essa Township,” McLagan wrote. “The elimination of all positions would have an operational impact on the detachment services, in particular community mobilization and traffic services. “
Policing costs for Barrie’s neighbouring townships — Essa, Springwater and Oro-Medonte — are set to increase between 17 and 25 per cent in 2025. Between them, the increase is almost $2 million — $620,000 in Essa, $575,000 in Springwater and $660,000 in Oro-Medonte.
Oro-Medonte was the first of the local neighbours to report the large increase.
Shawn Binns, chief administrative officer for Oro-Medonte, dropped the news during a council meeting on Oct. 23 when he announced the municipality's total cost of policing was expected to increase by almost $660,000 (or about 25 per cent) next year to almost $3.5 million.
“This increase equates to over a three per cent tax increase before we even start the budget process in terms of level of services,” Binns said at that meeting.
Greg Bedard, Springwater Township’s finance director, told council during a special budget meeting on Monday, that the proposed OPP increase will cost the township approximately $3 million in 2025 — an increase of $575,000 (or 24 per cent) over last year.
“The increase in OPP costs will make up 87 per cent of the township’s service partner’s base budget change,” Bedard said. “This change alone represents an increase in taxes payable of $63 per year for the average township taxpayer.”
Bedard told council he couldn’t provide them with additional insights into why the OPP request is what it is, as the annual billing statement webinars the OPP typically hosts to assist municipalities understand the model were cancelled this year.
“They were scheduled to take place in late October,” he said at the time. “However, they were cancelled and have not been rescheduled at this time. As such, there is limited information available for me to share with council tonight."
Essa Township officials say the increase will trigger an approximate five per cent tax rate increase, on top of what the municipality was already contemplating.
At its Nov. 6 meeting, Essa council passed a resolution that stated the township “wishes to dispute the 2025 OPP annual billing statement.”
The township is requesting the billing statement be reduced to two per cent, an increase it calls more manageable and in line with historical trends. Any increase above that, the township recommends the province pick up the tab.
“Any increase above two per cent be absorbed by the province as the additional costs are directly the result of collective bargaining that was within the control of the OPP and should have been known to be financially unsustainable for the municipalities that now need to pay the bill,” the resolution said.
A copy of the resolution was sent to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Solicitor-General Michael Kerzner, Simcoe-Grey MPP Brian Saunderson, the County of Simcoe and all 329 municipalities serviced by the OPP.
Oro-Medonte Mayor Randy Greenlaw said that while the township does not have control over the cost of police services in the township, it's working with its neighbours and the county to try and find a solution that would be more cost-effective.
“Similar to neighbouring communities, the OPP’s proposed increase for 2025 presents a significant challenge for Oro-Medonte,” Greenlaw said in an email. “We are advocating for measures to reduce the impact of the proposed funding increase on Oro-Medonte residents."
According to an article published on Nov. 15, some Simcoe County municipalities recently voted to have the county investigate the possibility of a new county-wide police service.
At the county’s committee of the whole meeting on Nov. 12, on the agenda was a letter from the Town of Wasaga Beach calling on the county to undertake a feasibility study for a county force to explore their options outside of the OPP model.
“Most of us are facing this same issue with respect to the OPP and the increases we’re seeing this year,” Wasaga Beach Mayor Brian Smith said during the meeting. “This is quite clearly not sustainable.
“Policing is never going to be cheap, but we have to look at better solutions than we have today,” he added.
At the end of discussion, the committee voted to refer the matter back to county staff to gather their input before deciding whether to pull the trigger on a regional police force feasibility study.
The committee also voted in favour of having Warden Basil Clarke send a letter to the solicitor general regarding the OPP billing increase for Simcoe County municipalities serviced by the OPP, which would also be forwarded to the ministry of municipal affairs and housing requesting they initiate a review of the OPP billing formula.
Decisions made during a committee of the whole meeting need to be ratified at the next county council meeting before going into effect.
— With files from Jessica Owen, Derek Howard and Michael Owen
