South Bruce Peninsula is joining some other small municipalities in calling on the Provincial Government to take over all or some of the cost of their provincial policing services.
A new collective agreement this summer between the Ontario government and the Ontario Provincial Police Association included salary increases of 4.75 per cent to be paid to cover 2023, 4.5 per cent in 2024, and 2.75 per cent in 2025 and 2026.
That contributes significantly to a 14.97 per cent increase (about $400,000) in policing cost in the 2025 budget for the Town of South Bruce Peninsula. In Arran-Elderslie it’s a 19 per cent increase.
South Bruce Peninsula Council passed a resolution supporting a call from the Municipality of Tweed for the provincial government to take over the cost of policing from small rural municipalities of 10,000 people or fewer.
The resolution from Tweed, which is northwest of Kingston is circulating to municipalities and it argues, “The Ontario Government has committed $9.1 billion to Toronto alone to assist with operating deficits and the repatriation of the Don Valley and Gardner Expressway; and $534 million to Ottawa for the repatriation of Hwy 174.” It says the annual cost of the OPP Municipal Policing Bureau for small rural non-contract municipalities is approximately $428 million, which it notes is significantly less than what it’s paying out elsewhere. Tweed says, if the province paid for policing for small communities, it would, “Afford relief to small rural municipalities for both infrastructure and operating needs while having a minimal impact on the provincial budget.”
The Town of Wasaga Beach has been circulating its own resolution saying it wants to dispute the 22.8 per cent increase it’s seeing this coming year in the cost of policing. It wants to pay the 5 per cent increase it’s accustomed to, and wants the provincial government to absorb the rest of the cost. Wasaga beach also wants to do a feasibility study for a Simcoe County police service.
Back on July 22nd, when the collective agreements were ratified, OPP Association President John Cerasuolo said in a statement “Our sworn police officers and civilian members work tirelessly to serve and protect the citizens of Ontario each and every day, often putting their own lives at risk. Our Members deserve to be the top paid police in Ontario.”
South Bruce Peninsula Councillor Paul Deacon, who presented the resolution supporting Tweed, told council, “I think the burden placed on the municipalities and in particular, on the taxpayers is a huge increase in the cost that we should be minimizing when we’re trying to do our best to lessen the impact on the taxpayers of South Bruce Peninsula.”
Deacon added, “We don’t want to minimize the importance of police services in the municipality, they do a fantastic job,” noting there is a need for them.
Mayor Jay Kirkland agreed saying, “It is frustrating. We’re in a tourist area and our yearly contract is based on services call and the amount of households that we have plus a few other things so it’s very difficult for us.” He suggested asking the Province to start by giving the Town funding, with the view of eventually, having the province take over paying for OPP.
Councillor Cathy Durst said, “I’m wondering if there’s an opportunity here to at least develop a formulaic approach to policing. Because each community’s needs are different.”
She added, “We’re a tourist community so our population triples for or five months of the year and our traffic needs are different and our visitor needs are different than another municipality. I’m just thinking about what might be more realistic. What is unrealistic in my view is this year’s budget where we were forced to pay up a not-finished police contract that went back to 2023. I don’t think that we should have been held accountable for that slip in the province’s negotiation practices. It’s $400,000 of our budget went to paying up an un-negotiated contract which we had no control over.”
Durst suggested a cost-sharing program, “That makes sense for small and rural municipalities,”
Councillor Caleb Hull agreed saying, he supports the idea of urging the province to take over the cost of policing. Adding, “I think with the standardized salary across Ontario…to me it shows what Mayor Kirkland is saying, is that it makes more sense for the Provincial government to take over the OPP.”
Hull says, “I can pretty much guarantee every rural municipality is going to be doing a delegation on this. It’s going to be a significant thing.”
He added, “The whole backdating is completely unacceptable and it handcuffs us in the time of us doing our budget.”
The Office of the Solicitor General oversees policing in Ontario. In an emailed response to Bayshore Broadcasting News, Chelsea McGee, Director of Communications & Issues Management for the Office of the Solicitor General said, “We understand that some municipalities face additional costs due to their existing agreements with the OPP. We will work with these municipalities to ensure they are not negatively financially impacted by this.”
