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Councillor urges public to read OPP billing information

December 14, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

The Ontario Provincial Police broke down its forecasted bill to Orangeville for next year’s services.

Town council heard during its regular meeting on Dec. 11 that the municipality will be billed $4.38 million for policing services in 2024. That’s a monthly cost of about $364,879.

The actual bill runs 22 pages long.

Sgt. Rob Griffin said the OPP provides an integrated service delivery model. The force is mandated to police individual communities that contract them to do so, and it polices the province as a whole.

“Our ultimate goal at the end is to have safe communities and a secure Ontario,” Griffin said.

Janet Fever, the civilian at the OPP’s municipal policing bureau, broke down the force’s Base Services, which include RIDE campaigns, crime prevention, 24-hour emergency service, officer training, and general and directed patrol. The cost for basic services runs about $165 per property in Orangeville.

“Some might think of this as the more fixed component of the bill,” she said.

Calls for Service is the reactive side of policing when somebody calls for assistance, including crime calls and motor vehicle collisions.

Provincewide, the OPP costs $428 million. Of that sum, the Base Service costs are $204 million, the Calls for Service cost is $183 million, and the remaining $42 million is for other costs.

“This is a forecast for 2024, I would like to point that out,” she said. “There will be reconciliation in the two years after that. We’re always a year behind in our reconciliation.”

The 2024 bill includes a $704,697 reconciliation for 2022 costs.

Councillor Joe Andrews said council is comprised of data-driven decision-makers. And, as such, he was impressed with the amount of data provided in the billing model and the council presentation.

He said moving into the stable of communities policed by the OPP has been a windfall.

“Having that information is imperative,” Andrews said. “I would encourage our general public, who has been critical through this whole process, to take a look at some of that information.”

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