KENORA—Infrastructure investments are falling behind with no real opportunity to catch up. The municipalities of Kenora, Sioux Lookout, and Pickle Lake estimate that since 2015, they have collectively paid $30 million dollars more that they believe they should have for the day-to-day services of the Ontario Provincial Police.
According to these municipalities, “That is about $4 million dollars annually that these municipalities could have invested in critical infrastructure needs, such as roads, drainage, water and sewer infrastructure treatment, and recreation facilities and services. The municipalities are also struggling to keep up their reserve funds.”
These three municipalities formed a coalition to address the significant costs of providing police services in their respective communities.
Their goal in the immediate future is to ask the new provincial government to change its 8-year-old cost-formula for OPP-provided police services.
In their opinion, these municipalities believe that, “The formula is based on cost per property but does not reflect that each of the three communities are hubs for much larger populations. In total, the municipalities, in terms of policing costs, are paying for twice as many people as their tax bases ought to support. This is putting a strain on critical areas of municipal spending.”
To view the full statement regarding the real cost of high policing costs on these municipalities, visit: https://www.kenora.ca/.../the-real-cost-of-high-policing...
