North Frontenac Council

Jeff Green | Nov 27, 2014

Lanark OPP pulling out of Frontenac County

Inspector Derek Needham, the detachment commander for the Lanark County OPP, went over the new OPP billing model for the benefit of North Frontenac Council at the final meeting of the current council in Plevna on Monday morning (November 24).

Although the explanation went into more detail than the township had seen earlier, the bottom line is still, as had been previously communicated to the township, an increase of $139,000 in 2015, and an identical increase each year for the following three years, followed by a smaller increase in 2019.

Within five years, the annual cost for service to North Frontenac Township will have risen by 367% from 2014 costs, going from $230,000 to $845,000 over that time, representing a 12% increase (about 2.5% per year) in taxes just to cover increases in policing costs.

“The fact is that North Frontenac has been paying $66 per household until now, which is way less than what most municipalities have been paying,” said Needham, “that's why you've been hit so hard.”

He then explained that the change in the billing model, which is not leading to an overall increase in municipal funding for the OPP, was mandated by the Attorney General of Ontario in order to make the model easy to understand.

“The old model was overly complicated,” he said, adding that the new model will “result in a decrease for Perth and Carleton Place and increases in the other townships, some as much as 100%, but none as dramatic as yours.”

The model does take into account the low rate of service calls in North Frontenac since 40% of the billing is related to calls for service, but since there is a billing of $200 per household as a base cost for the service, and according to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, North Frontenac has 3,464 households even though it only has 2,000 permanent residents, the costs to ratepayers will be going up and up.

“We receive grants based on our permanent resident population, such as gas tax and others. But this is the first time our number of households has been used, but it is not for a grant, it is for a bill,” said Councilor Gerry Martin.

Needham said he didn't know anything about how grants are allocated.

Needham was also asked by Councilor Lonnie Watkins why so many tickets were issued during the September ATV charity run event in Ompah. “From what I've heard it was a ticket writing exercise,” Watkins said, "400 tickets were issued.”

“I don't want to say too much about that event,” said Needham, “so I'll speak generally. Individual officers have a lot of discretion when it comes to certain kinds of offences, and sometimes things can be handled as kind of an education piece. I'd like to optimistically say there will be a different way of handling it next year.”

Needham revealed at the end of his presentation that jurisdiction for policing in North Frontenac (and Central Frontenac as well) will be handed over to a new detachment.

“We have been looking at efficiencies, and as of February 1, the Sharbot Lake Detachment will align with the Frontenac detachment in Hartington, and not the Lanark Detachment in Smiths Falls. The same officers will work out of the detachment, but the commander will be out of Hartington."

Compressor order approved

At the previous meeting Council had deferred ordering a new air compressor to fill breathing bottles for firefighters because at that time Fire Chief Riddell was on vacation.

This time around Riddell explained that a new compressor is required because new regulations require that compressors include a detector/shut off valve that makes it impossible for carbon monoxide to infiltrate the bottles, and the North Frontenac compressor doesn't have one.

“I didn't see that in your report,” said Councilor John Inglis, “but why does the new compressor need to be bigger - 5,000 pounds per square inch in place of the 3,000 psi machine we have now?

“Down the line a few years the word is that the 4,500 psi bottles will be required and I thought it was best to plan ahead instead being faced with the cost of a new compressor,” said Riddell.

Armed with this knowledge Council approved the new purchase, and decided to take the old compressor out of service.

Riddell said that delivery could take a month and until the new compressor arrives North Frontenac will fill their breathing bottles at the fire station in Sharbot Lake, where there is a compressor that meets safety standards.