| Aug 20, 2014


In North and Central Frontenac there are two police officers scheduled to cover policing needs at all times. In the daytime they sometimes patrol in two cars and at night they double up in one vehicle. The same level of service is provided in Tay Valley. In South Frontenac, where there is a policing contract, the service level is a bit higher. The police who serve all these communities also spend a lot of time working directly for the Province of Ontario by covering Highway 7 and Highway 401, which are not within the jurisdiction of the townships.

These levels of service are not changing, but what is changing is how much people will be charged for policing on their property tax bills.

Ever since policing costs were downloaded to municipalities almost 15 years, the way costs are calculated for municipalities who are not under a fixed contract with the OPP has been shrouded in mystery. When the province announced they were going to change the formula and make it transparent it was well received by the municipalities. Unfortunately, for the small municipalities in Eastern Ontario at least, it became clear when proposals for a new formula were introduced that increases were on the way.

The problem is that the main piece of information the province is using for calculating charges is the number of households in a municipality. At first the proposal was to base all the cost entirely on this, and the figure that was floated was about $350 per household. This would be very expensive locally, in large part because the formula does not distinguish between seasonal and full-time residences. North Frontenac Township paid $234,000 for policing in 2014, and with 3,500 households, the cost would skyrocket to $1.25 million. Central Frontenac, which paid $794,000 in 2014, would jump to $1.4 million. Tay Valley would go from about $500,00 to $1.35 million.

The province has moderated the formula, announcing last week that 60% of the billing would be based on the number of residences and 40% based on calls for service. Municipal officials whom I have contacted are unclear about what this will mean for their ratepayers, and they will find out in early September, when information sessions are scheduled. There will also be a four-year phase-in to cushion the blow, and according to a government press release the maximum a municipality will be charged is a $40 per household increase each year for the five years. The best case scenario then, for North Frontenac ratepayers, would then be an increase of $700,000 over five years, which translates to a 14% increase in taxes over the time period just for policing costs. Central Frontenac could see a smaller increase, somewhere in the order of 10%.

South Frontenac's policing contract will be affected by this change, and the details will be released in September. Since there are about 10,000 households in South Frontenac, and the township budgeted $2.7 million for policing in 2014 (up from $2.3 million in 2013) there is every reason to believe that costs will go up to about $3.6 million over five years, a $900,000 increase that represents a 7.5% increase in taxes for South Frontenac ratepayers.

In conversations with some of the township treasurers about this, it was clear that they do not yet know what the announcements from the province actually means for their budgets in 2015 and beyond, but they do expect large increases.

As we are about to go headlong into a municipal election campaign, these figures might temper some of the candidates' election promises.

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