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Orangeville ‘screwed over’ by neighbours on fire protection says deputy mayor

February 13, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Deputy Mayor Todd Taylor recognizes that Orangeville needs a new fire station.

Theirs is the oldest fire hall in all of Dufferin County. Taylor said the current fire station and the department’s Diane Drive offices aren’t suitable for the town’s current needs.

“To have our people who are highly skilled and doing what they do for all of us in substandard buildings, I’m just not in favour of,” he said.

The town has been trying to make the proposed new fire station a reality since 2021. Since then, there have been escalating costs, growth in the design’s scope, and possible floodplain issues at the site. Most recently, the town scaled back the project to bring the cost down from $31.6 million to a more palatable $25 million.

Heather Savage, the town’s general manager of corporation services, said the price tag is in line with what other Ontario municipalities are currently shelling out for fire station construction projects.

Orangeville Fire Department serves three neighbouring municipalities in Dufferin County. And adequate capital cost recovery from those neighbours is an issue that Taylor feels needs to be addressed.

In June 2019, the Orangeville Fire Service Agreements with neighbouring municipalities were amended from a per-call billing model to a flat rate. The agreement was for 2019-22 on a flat rate basis with four installments per year.

The revised agreement is for an additional four years and continues to be based on an annual flat rate.

The current agreement, which will run until 2026, has a 26.32 per cent increase in the first year, followed by annual increases of 3.24 per cent in 2024, then 2.74 per cent in 2025, and 2.75 per cent in the final year.

If the other towns pay $1.4 million a year while Orangeville taxpayers contribute $23 million for fire protection services, Taylor said that math doesn’t sit well with him.

“They should pay a portion of it based on use and population,” he said. “And their population is larger than whatever that math is, 10 per cent if the numbers are correct.”

Savage said the capital cost recovery rate will be revisited in 2027 when it will be increased if required. She likened the outside service contract to a subscription as opposed to the towns paying by the call.

“I’m sorry I don’t know the intimate details on how we got to $1.4 million,” Savage said. “They are contributing to capital costs. We can revisit it in 2027 when we renegotiate those contracts. But right now their demand for fire service isn’t as high as Orangeville because we have significantly more people here.”

Councillor Andy Macintosh, a retired Orangeville fire chief, said the neighbouring communities are paying for a service. It shouldn’t be considered that they’re paying to build Orangeville’s fire station.

“If it’s not covering the cost, then we need to charge more in 2027,” he said. “I don’t necessarily think they need to pay for the building itself. It’s Orangeville’s building and we’re providing a service for them.”

Taylor said he completely disagrees with that avenue of thought.

“Why would the Orangeville taxpayer pay $25 million for a building that we are supporting other areas for?” Taylor said. “We have been pinned for years and screwed over numerous times on our taxes and we wonder why we’re paying so much money. They sit across the road and don’t pay anything and they brag about it.”

Quite simply, those municipalities need to pay their fair share for services from Orangeville.

“When 2027 rolls up, we need to get our money back or we don’t provide the service to them,” Taylor said. “Mono needs to step up and pay their share. We don’t have the cash.”

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