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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-04-27, Page 151 16 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, April 27, 2016 OPP says policing costs might not ever go down The OPP and Huron East had a professional exchange of words last week Shaun Gregory Huron East Representatives from the OPP made an appearance at council last week in Sea - forth; their presence was welcomed with many ques- tions. But one inquiry appeared to stick out and hit home the most -policing costs. Huron East's treasurer/ finance manager, Paula Michiels prepared a report recently for the budget sea- son. In it she indicated that the overall municipal tax levy went up 20 per cent and about six per cent of the upsurge can be credited to policing expenses. In 2015, the municipality paid the OPP $1,314,510 and now they are looking at $1,505,862, which works out to be a 14.5 per cent modifi- cation. These findings caught the municipality's attention and almost every person labeled as a local pol- itician wanted answers. "We had our first draft budget, to our surprise, one of the big costs was policing (which) had gone up $190,000 in one year," explained Tuckersmith Councillor, Ray Chartrand to the OPP officers. "Can you explain to me how this policing formula has a change that drastic?" Jason Younan, inspector detachment commander for the Huron County OPP called the rise, the "new billing model:' The additional charges are based upon the total recov- eries ecoveries for the province of 66 other attachments. Last year in Ontario, the recoveries were $394 million and in 2016 went up to $398 million with close to half of that considered calls for service. "So what Huron East pays is their portion of that total amount for the calls for ser- vice," stated Younan dressed in police attire. He referred to it as the 'bricks and mortar; these prices include ride, traffic and community policing. It also includes the operational side of it, which include fully equip- ping officers 24 hours a day. In Huron East, these expendi- tures can vary, from the 48 calls for the most serviced crime of domestic disturbance to the realm of possession of meth- amphetamines that saw four cases last year, one more than marijuana possession. "I'm not going to spin you a yarn here for Huron East and tell you cost will go down, it likely will not. So what you will see from here on out are incremental increases IimmmMaln BUSINESS - ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DIPLOMA 1 INFORMATION SESSION • Saturday April 30, 2016 • 10 am -12 pm • 33 St David Street, Unit 107 Goderich 11arn - Local entrepeneur panel discussion on the future of entrepreneurship in Huron County For more information: cl inton@fanshawec.ca (519) 606 -1485 www.fanshawec.ca/goderich I'm not going to spin you a yarn here for Huron East and tell you cost will go down, it likely will not" — Jason Younan, inspector detachment commander for the Huron County OPP opposed (to the) drastic which you spoke about," You- nan responded back to Char- trand's question. "In order to alleviate some of the pain and I'm not say- ing $190,000 is not painful, it is painful. But to alleviate, the OPP have done a phase-in:' Since there is such a large boost in police expenses as a result of the new billing model, increases will be capped at approximately $40 per property a year. Reduc- tions will vary from $18 per property in the first year to $96 per property in year five of the phase-in. In some cases Younan mentioned residents were paying as lit- tle as $7 per household and others were paying more than a $1,000. "I know Huron East won't agree with me at all, but I can tell you the contracts that I've renewed down in Essex County, those five contracts coming down, they think the billing is fair," he said. Huron East's Mayor Bernie MacLellan was the one to lead most of the back and forth questionnaire, he went on to say that he had a 'prob- lem' with the new increases and other recent changes. "The reconciliation got pulled out from under us, if you are talking calls for ser- vice, we used to get back almost a $100,000 a year," stated MacLellan about the rebates that were yanked without an explanation to why it happened. 'And it's a little disconcert- ing when you say we shouldn't compare what we pay for policing for the level of service we actually get." Younan replied to the mayor's comments. "Your worship, there is still a rec- onciliation adjustment. It's not just done semi-annually it's due at the end of the year. And (in) respect to the larger rebates you were getting, I think you can look at that positively:' The mayor ended in a pro- fessional manner and thanked the OPP representa- tives for making their way to Seaforth, but "we don't accept the costs:' Shaun Gregory Huron East's Mayor Bernie MacLellan told the OPP the $190,000 increase for policing expenses is too high. Seaforth Coun. Bob Fisher listens as the OPP explain to council why their bill has increased. 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