A new OPP billing model is expected to save Wellington County between $2 million and $2.5 million annually in police service costs.
The county treasury department is still working the numbers after the province announced the new model on Aug. 14, which will take effect on Jan. 1 and be phased in over five years.
The new model will see some municipalities paying more for police service, but most will pay less than current costs.
Under the new model, bills will be split between base costs – the cost of regular police work such as routine patrols, crime prevention and RIDE programs – and calls for service, such as accident investigations.
The base costs will make up 60 per cent of the annual bill charged municipalities and calls for service will account for 40%. Previously, municipalities were charged for all services combined.
Warden Chris White said the county was expecting to pay about $18 million for police services, but is now looking at a decrease of “$2 million and upward.”
That equals a decrease of about $75 (from $516 to about $441) in the portion of annual taxes per county household used to cover police services.
White said the figure could change if the costs are spread out over all properties in the county and not just households.
“Updating the OPP billing model is about making it fairer, more transparent, and easier to understand,” said Yasir Naqvi, minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
Talks on a new model have been ongoing for more than a year between the ministry, OPP officials and municipal representatives.
They were initiated after the provincial auditor general recommended a revision to the billing in a 2012 report.
“It should be $16 million or less,” White said of what county policing costs will be once full details of the new billing model are known.
“It’s preliminary. We’ve got to estimate what we’re going to save.”
County council deferred signing a new contract with the OPP, pending the announcement of a new billing model.
“This means we can ink a deal,” the warden added.
“This a good News story for Wellington County taxpayers … We are very happy with our OPP contract, we’re one of the safest communities in Canada.”
White noted the new model will end up costing some municipalities more for policing.
He said the issue has sparked “a lot of discussion” at the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO) meeting earlier this week in London.
White, who is a director on AMO’s rural caucus, said it’s expected about 10 to 15 per cent of Ontario’s 440 municipalities will see significant increases in police costs as a result of the new billing model.
“AMO anticipates that the majority of municipal OPP bills are expected to be between $200 to $400 per property based on 2015 estimates,” the association said in a press release on Aug. 14.
The discussion on overall police costs also came up at the convention, White said.
“What needs to be done to keep police costs from rising, you’ve got to come up with a formula for day-to-day costs,” White said.
He noted the reduction in policing costs will allow the county to achieve other funding commitments, such as the $9.4 million in funding approved by council for the three hospitals in the county, without raising taxes or tapping reserves to meet the commitments.
