Archive

New bylaw recoups costs of false alarm calls to OPP

November 28, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Orangeville taxpayers cover the costs of policing in the town, but did you know the OPP charges an additional $151 for each false alarm call?

Town council is taking steps to recover those needless dings to the public purse.

Orangeville finished a three-year contract with the OPP this year. The town entered into the provincial billing model which charges a base amount plus a cost for each service call.

And that’s how false alarms cost taxpayers money.

With information provided by the OPP Municipal Policing Bureau, town staff estimated a single false alarm costs the municipality about $151 per call.

A permanent false alarm program will entail a fee of $150 for the initial false alarm and a fee of $300 for each call within 12 months of the first false alarm. That will assist in recouping costs associated with false alarm calls and result in the number of calls for service potentially decreasing.

It’s hoped the program administrative costs and associated OPP billing costs will be significantly reduced.

“It should be noted that these fees are not meant to be punitive in nature, but for cost recovery purposes only,” according to a report for council’s consideration.

James Bramley, licensing and bylaw supervisor, said the new bylaw creates an administrative framework that ultimately decreases the number of false alarms and enables the town to recover the costs of those calls through penalties.

A false alarm includes activation of the system during testing or because of mechanical failure. It also covers alarms mistakenly activated.

And fees that go unpaid will be added to the recipient’s tax bill.

Perhaps the business owner is but a tenant of the building in which they operate. Councillor Debbie Sherwood wondered if it would be effective to add the unpaid fees to the property tax bill when the building owner isn’t the business owner.

“As for the bylaw, we’ve dictated that it is the registered owner of the property and/or the owner of the alarm system,” Bramley said. “So all parties involved with the false alarm or the occurrence will be responsible.”

Coun. Joe Andrews asked if there are examples from other municipalities where the fee increases after the second false alarm.

“Because there are those anomalies where something like this could happen, but there are other examples where the fine could be higher than $300,” Andrews said.

“There are other municipalities that do increase these fines on an incremental measure,” Bramley said. “This is not meant to be a punitive measure. This is purely a cost-recovery and administrative costs as these fees are coming back towards us through the OPP that when they show up this is a fee for service.”

Readers Comments (0)