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Difference in OPP transition cost savings reviewed at Council

March 25, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Orangeville Council took some time at their March 22 meeting to reflect on the transition to Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) from the Orangeville Police Service (OPS)

Coun. Todd Taylor requested at a previous meeting to have Jonathan Hambides, the consultant that did the OPP to OPS transition costing, return to Council and explain why there’s shortfall in savings when comparing his projections to that of the Town treasurer.

Mr. Hambides appeared before Council at their March 22 meeting and explained why his initial cost estimate of $58.6 million in savings by 2036 is now actually $56.34 million, accounting for a difference of about $2.26 million.

“After reviewing our calculations, we did find an error in that we did not include expected collective agreement salary increases for the OPP in the first three years of the policing contract,” said Mr. Hambides.

“We continued with several discussions with the town’s administration to find other discrepancies, which we didn’t. But the discussions and review did lead us to notice substantial differences in how the Orangeville Police Services and the Ontario Provincial Police interpret the amount [of money] recoverable from the province for court services.”

Mr. Hambides noted that the OPP identify a much lower entitlement of court costs than what’s historically been accounted for by the OPS. However, he said he didn’t analyze the reasons for the lower amounts of money recovered by the court as he feels that’s up to the Town’s Police Services Board to review.

Following Mr. Hambides statement, Coun. Taylor, who’s also chair of the Police Services Board said he appreciates his comments on the salary increases and court cost grants and will look into where the discrepancies might be.

In terms of the delta in cost savings between the Town’s treasurer and Mr. Hambides’s projections, Mayor Sandy Brown noted that the treasurer puts her numbers on the conservative side and Council won’t have fully accurate numbers until sometime in mid 2022, when they can analyze the operating costs of 2021.

“Even with the with the proposed delta, our costs are down this year, they’re going to be down next year and the year after,” said Mayor Brown. “The presence of the OPP is much improved over what was going on with the Orangeville Police Service, we’re seeing a lot more traffic enforcement, criminal arrests and what have you.

“I’ve talked to the detachment commander, the morale is up amongst the rank and file, a lot of positive things are going on and there has been savings already, so I think we need to focus on good things,” he added.

In the end, Coun. Taylor says he still finds the differential in cost savings “a bit perplexing,” but all of Council will have a clearer picture as time goes forward.

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