MANITOULIN—Manitoulin Island municipal representatives have indicated to the province, through a delegation at the recent Rural Ontario Municipalities Association (ROMA) conference, that they appreciate the province offsetting recent Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) costs.
This contribution saved rural municipalities on Manitoulin from placing the burden of an average 22 percent increase on tax levies. That, however, was announced in late 2024 to cover 2025 increased costs.
At ROMA they raised the issue again, with a concern that the high share of policing costs they avoided this time will not be the case in the next year and beyond.
“We talked about a couple of things, including the concerns with OPP costing, one being to indicate our appreciation to the ministry (Solicitor General) for reducing the policing bill for 2025. If not for this support municipalities would have been faced with significant cost increases,” said Al MacNevin, mayor of NEMI.
“We also raised the concern if the OPP billing reduction would be for one year or carry on for 2026 and beyond,” said Bryan Barker, mayor of Billings Township.
“We met with Sarah Caldwell, assistant deputy minister to the Solicitor General at the ROMA (Rural Ontario Municipal Association) conference in Toronto,” said Mayor MacNevin. “We raised our concerns with years going further and if we will be looking at significant increases again. The initial bills proposed would have caused significant financial concerns for municipalities.”
“We did not receive an answer directly, but she said the government realizes and understands there would be some impacts felt by municipalities,” said Mayor MacNevin. “She did indicate the ministry will be undertaking a review and will be advising municipalities on how they are going to look at it and to look at preventing major increases. It may mean a change in the way municipalities are billed for policing.”
“The deputy minister assistant said they’ve committed to review the policing model,” said Mayor MacNevin.
“Wasn’t a definitive answer provided but that the ministry will be reassessing the billing structure,” said Mayor Barker. “What we (Billings) are going to do is make this a line item in our budget towards OPP billing to help offset any hit in 2026 and beyond.”
Mayor MacNevin said NEMI council had budgeted for the proposed policing increases and included it in the budget, and it will remain in reserve in case the town does receive a significant increase in its OPP policing bill for the next year.
The Ontario government had announced November 29 that it is proposing to provide over $77 million in financial relief to municipalities to help offset the increased cost of municipal police services provided by the OPP. This investment will help these predominantly small and rural communities address the budget impacts resulting from the collective bargaining agreement that was reached between the province and the OPP Association last July.
The government’s proposal supported small and rural municipalities by offsetting the 2025 impacts of OPP salary increases. This included a 3.75 percent bill reduction on 2023 total reconciled costs, a 44 percent bill reduction on 2023 reconciled overtime costs and a 10 percent bill reduction on amounts involved for 2025 policing costs. In addition to these changes the province is continuing its annual $125 million Court Security and Prisoner Transportation Transfer Payment Program for the 2025 calendar year. The province will also be examining options for reviewing the OPP billing model to ensure that it meets the needs of communities across the province.
The financial relief was designed to offset the costs of the collective agreement in the OPP union contract settlement (that saw a 4.7 percent retroactive increase in salaries, while 2024 will see a 4.5 percent increase). The wage increase for 2025 and 2026 is at 2.75 percent.