Increased policing costs will impact all municipal budgets

EGANVILLE, ON – Municipalities across Renfrew County, along with all of Ontario, are bracing themselves for some significant increases in policing costs in 2025 after the Ontario Provincial Police Association and province ratified four-year collective agreements for uniform and civilian employees.

Like the heads of most municipal councils, Bonnechere Valley Township Mayor Jennifer Murphy was shocked when she learned of the increases which range from 15 per cent in McNab Braeside Township to 23 per cent in Whitewater Region and is quite concerned how it will impact 2025 municipal budgets.

“This is a disaster for our budgets for 2025,” Mayor Murphy said. “BV alone is going into budget without any additional services or infrastructure upgrades at four percent. So we’re starting behind the eight ball before we even sit at the budget table which is a disaster.”

The cost increase to BV next year will be $167,780, which represents a levy increase of 4.1 percent. That was close to the municipal tax increase in 2024, but municipalities have many other needs other than policing and with inflation and higher operating costs in just about every area of operations, taxpayers are going to be faced with significant tax increases in 2025 or possibly face a substantial reduction in services.

Mayor Murphy, who is a member of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) executive, said policing costs was the subject of a board meeting Friday afternoon.

“Everybody is extremely concerned about their increases,” she said. “We passed a resolution that this information now goes to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and specifically the AMO policy people who work with the Solicitor General’s Office.”

ROMA represents over 375 of the 444 Ontario municipalities. The OPP provides policing services to 327 municipalities.

Mayor Murphy said the shocking increases are coming at a time when municipal councils are facing high inflationary challenges and people are struggling to pay rent, heat and buy groceries.

“Going into a budget without anything but policing at four percent is not anything I thought I would ever see,” she said. “We are really concerned about some of the increases and what this might mean year over year even though we know there is two percent for 2025-26, but what does that mean down the line with further negotiations?”

Municipalities were advised in July of the negotiated increases for the years 2023-25. The agreements include general salary year-over-year rate increases of 4.75 percent for 2023, 4.5 percent for 2024, and 2.75 percent for both 2025 and 2026. On top of that, OPP detachment front-line constables and sergeants received an additional three percent front-line patrol premium retroactive to last month.

Increases Across Renfrew County

The following is how the increases will impact county municipalities and the City of Pembroke:

Pembroke: $837,267; 19% increase; 3.35% levy increase;

Arnprior: $376,189; 21%; 3.4%;

Petawawa: $354,577; 20%; 3.03%;

Admaston/Bromley: $84,845; 21%; 2.49%;

Bonnechere Valley: $167,780; 23%; 4.10%;

Brudenell, Lyndoch, Raglan: $70,058; 22%; 4.77%;

Greater Madawaska: $139,308; 20%; 3.40%;

Horton: $70,317; 17%; 2.45%;;

Killaloe, Hagarty, Richards: $100,401; 21%; 3%

Laurentian Hills: $80,820; 20%; 2.50%;

Laurentian Valley: $253,372; 19%; 3.7%;

Madawaska Valley: $193,552; 22%; 2.10%;

McNab Braeside: $141,272; 15%; 1.10%;

North Algona Wilberforce: $107,090; 21%; 3%;

Whitewater Region: $228,611; 23%; 3.16%.

Mayor Murphy said a resolution is being floated around asking the province to re-absorb the entire cost of policing.  These costs were downloaded on to municipalities in the early 2000s as part of then PC Premier Mike Harris’ Common Sense Revolution. In return, the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund was established to help municipalities absorb the cost of policing but she is concerned what it could do to funding if the partnership fund is opened up for review.

Mayor Murphy said the province is will have to find some way to make the increase palatable across the board. 

“I need people to understand how serious this is before we hit 2025,” she said. “We have infrastructure needs, we have needs for equipment, we have things that we’ve got in our strategic plan that we’d like to get done.

“There are so many things that need to be done in our township and this is going to really cripple us at the knees if we are not able to do things that we’d like to do because we’re increasing our levy by four percent just to cover policing.

“In a normal year we don’t go more than three, for everything. That includes anything to do with the police.”

Mayor Murphy said there is no blame to frontline officers with the increase, but added something has to be done by the province to make this easier for municipalities to put into a budget.

“If they sent us two per cent, I think I’d be upset. At four per cent, I don’t know what to do, so that’s why lobbying efforts had to begin immediately.”

Debbi Christinck is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with The Eganville Leader. Title image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.