Ontario will offer $77M to offset dramatic spike in OPP costs for towns

The Ford government has promised to transportation tens of millions of dollars to assistance tiny and agrarian municipalities sorb the rising outgo of provincial policing, which was threatening to trigger grounds spot taxation increases successful immoderate places.

On Friday, Solicitor General Michael Kerzner announced $77 cardinal for towns and cities to assistance with OPP costs, driven successful portion by a grounds caller national statement making their officers the highest paid successful the province.

“The fiscal alleviation we are proposing volition assistance municipal leaders equilibrium their budgets and put successful their communities portion ensuring nary alteration to the policing provided by the OPP that keeps families and businesses safe,” Kerzner said successful a statement.

The OPP provides policing to the bulk of Ontario’s municipalities, with contracts to service 330 communities that don’t person their ain constabulary forces.

A caller four-year woody signed betwixt the OPP and its national successful the summertime is simply a large crushed costs are expanding adjacent year.

It spans from 2023 to 2026 and includes retroactive raises of 4.75 per cent for the archetypal twelvemonth and 4.5 per cent for the second, arsenic good arsenic 2.75-per cent raises for the last 2 years.

Salaries relationship for astir 90 per cent of the OPP’s municipal policies costs.

The costs shocked tiny municipalities which said they simply couldn’t spend to instrumentality connected the caller constabulary bill, predicting tremendous spot taxation increases for section residents.

In Collingwood, for example, the OPP measure roseate by $1.94 million, an summation of astir 37 per cent. The Napanee politician said costs were acceptable to summation 23 per cent successful his community.

In Napanee, the politician said the mean outgo for policing to each homeowner successful 2025 would person been $399, earlier the state agreed to measurement in.

Mayor Robin Martin, president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, welcomed the government’s determination to assistance subsidize the outgo of policing adjacent year.

“Without the provincial action, the emergence successful OPP costs would person importantly impacted small, rural, and bluish communities serviced by the OPP,” she said successful a statement.

“Municipal fiscal sustainability is nether unit crossed Ontario, and municipalities conflict to equilibrium their budgets. This proposition is an important designation of this situation and volition assistance enactment prime of beingness for residents crossed the province.”

The authorities has besides promised to look astatine “options for reviewing” however the OPP presently bills tiny and agrarian communities.

–with files from The Canadian Press and Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea