Timiskaming: Province provides assistance to offset 2025 policing costs

TIMISKAMING DISTRICT – Municipalities across the district are breathing a sigh of relief with the announcement that provincial funding is being made available to help offset rising policing costs.

A negotiation by the Ontario Provincial Police Association for policing costs to Ontario municipalities included retroactive costs, resulting in steep increases for Ontario municipalities that receive policing services from the OPP.

Municipalities with smaller tax bases were particularly hard hit.

Locally, Timiskaming-Cochrane MPP John Vanthof was contacted by some of the municipal leaders in his riding, and rose in the legislature on November 6 to address the matter to the Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy.

Solicitor General Michael Kerzner took the matter for review, resulting in a $77 million fund being made available to Ontario municipalities to help offset 2025 policing costs.

One of the hard-hit local municipalities was Cobalt, which had been advised in the fall that its 2025 costs for OPP services were rising to $520,465 from $409,761 in 2024. There are less than 1,000 residents in Cobalt, and the $111,000 increase  would have had to come out of the taxes of the Cobalt ratepayers. 

Vanthof stated in a press release that "no one was disputing the value of the police, but the overall cost of the increase was shocking."

Fund Met With Gratitude

The announcement that a $77 million fund has been made available was met with gratitude, but political leaders are now waiting to see what will happen in the future.

"Our combined efforts resulted in a favourable response from the government,” said Vanthof.

“We will have to wait and see how the announced formula will impact each municipality, but it is finally a step in the right direction."

The provincial government announcement outlined a proposal for a 3.75 per cent bill reduction on 2023 total reconciled costs; a 44 per cent bill reduction on 2023 reconciled overtime costs; and a 10 per cent bill reduction on amounts invoiced for 2025 policing costs.

Cobalt town manager Steven Dalley said in a telephone interview that he is now getting numbers from the province to determine what the actual policing bill will be for Cobalt in 2025. He will be presenting those numbers at the next Cobalt council meeting December 10.

Other municipalities across the province are also looking at their new numbers with relief.

Numbers Coming In

In the City of Temiskaming Shores the original estimate for 2025 policing costs had been $2,704,836 which was an increase of $284,331, or about 12 per cent, said Temiskaming Shores Mayor Jeff Laferriere in a telephone interview.

Now, with the most recent notification, the city is actually seeing a reduction of $417,517 in its 2025 policing cost estimate, "so we have actually seen a reduction of $133,186 year over year," said Laferriere.

"The challenge is, with the policing costs, what's going to happen in 2026 and beyond. They have made a material change for 2025 but is that going to be a consistent change going forward or is this something we're going to have to address next year?"

If there had been no response from the province to help offset 2025 policing costs, for Temiskaming Shores ratepayers the $284,000 increase would have resulted in a two per cent rate increase for city ratepayers.

Laferriere pointed out that the impact would have been even harder for smaller municipalities.

The Town of Englehart had been facing an increase from $321,015 in 2024 up to the 2025 amount of $376,695 (these amounts took adjustments from the previous year into account).

Armstrong Township chief administrative officer Dan Thibeault related in an email that his municipality's original 2025 policing bill was $225,972.

"This included an estimate of $214,057 and a 2023 year-end adjustment of $11,915.

“This represented an increase of $40,066 over 2024, or approximately 21.6 per cent, which would have required a 1.9 per cent tax rate increase to cover the change."

He estimates that the new announcement will save the municipality approximately $25,421.

"This brings our net increase down to $14,644, reducing our total 2025 cost to $200,550."

In Temagami the original 2025 cost had been $442,736, said Mayor Dan O'Mara in an email. This would be up from $376,863 in 2024, which was approximately 17.4 per cent.

"We were pleased to see we would be getting a good portion of this increase back," said O'Mara.

The Municipality of Charlton and Dack would have seen an increase of just under 18 per cent; Harley Township 22.5 per cent; Coleman Township had been looking at a 22.7 per cent increase; Hudson Township 17.3 per cent; Casey Township 15.5 per cent; Kerns Township was headed for a 24.7 per cent increase; and Chamberlain Township was looking at a 12 per cent increase. 

Darlene Wroe is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with the Temiskaming Speaker in New Liskeard, Ontario. Title image: iStock photo ID: 458102599 (OPP motorcycle parade).