The Ontario government is offering $77 million to help municipalities that rely on provincial police deal with skyrocketing law enforcement costs.
Several municipalities have reported double-digit increases in their Ontario Provincial Police bills for 2025, with at least one municipality facing more than double the previous tally.
That's left local leaders looking at additional tax increases — or spending cuts — to cover the unexpected expenses.
Several Simcoe County municipalities have been grappling with large increases to their policing bills.
In Collingwood, the OPP bill rose by $1.94 million, an increase of about 37 per cent.
“It's outrageous to put this on our property taxpayers,” said Yvonne Hamlin, the mayor of Collingwood, told the Canadian Press.
Essa Township says its policing bill has climbed 17 per cent over last year, which is a 5.2 per cent tax increase for ratepayers, on top of what the township was contemplating for its residents. In a letter to Premier Doug Ford, the municipality approved a motion earlier this month which asked that the township's OPP billing statement be reduced to an approximate two per cent increase and any increase above that be covered by the province.
The province says the funding announced today will help communities address the financial impact of a new contract agreement with the Ontario Provincial Police Association that was ratified this summer.
The union said at the time that the four-year deal made OPP officers the highest paid in the province. It spans from 2023 to 2026 and includes retroactive raises of 4.75 per cent for the first year and 4.5 per cent for the second, as well as 2.75 per cent raises for the final two years.
The government says it's also taking a look at the OPP billing model "to ensure that it meets the needs of communities across the province."
Provincial police provide their services to about 330 municipalities that don't have their own police forces.
OPP recover the cost of policing those municipalities through a billing model put in place in 2015. It includes a base cost per property as well as variable costs related to the number of calls for service and other factors, according to a document on the force’s website.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2024.
With files from Barrie 360
