Norfolk councilors say they are shocked after being hit with a bill showing a $3-million increase on the county’s 2025 contract with the OPP for policing.
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“This basically astronomical ask has severe impacts for our community and our budget as a whole,” Coun. Kim Huffman, who is chair of the Norfolk police services board, said at a recent budget committee meeting where the OPP’s 2025 annual billing statement was presented by staff. “It’s just incomprehensible.”
Coun. Linda Vandenriessche called the increase “just shocking.”
“I don’t believe we received any warning. I’m very dismayed by this and being kept out of the loop. It’s a sad thing when we have a police services board and we hear nothing.”
Municipalities across the province served by the Ontario Provincial Police are seeing significant increases in the cost of the service. Chris Everets, manager of financial planning and reporting for Norfolk County, said staff were taken by surprise when they received the bill about two weeks ago and little information about the reason for the increase.
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Media reports say the jump in costs is related, in part, to salary and benefit increases, court security, and a return to a pre-pandemic workload.
The total 2025 bill for OPP services in Norfolk is $15.5 million, including a year-end adjustment of $1.1 million for 2023. The OPP reconciles contract billings with municipalities and, when less service is provided than stipulated in the contract, the municipality receives a rebate in a future contract.
In this case, the bill showed significantly higher reconciled costs for court security, overtime, and prisoner transportation than what was estimated.
“The annual billing statement came as a surprise as in recent years we’ve actually seen a downward trend in the contract costs, as well as credits on our actual reconciliation,” said Everets.
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He said the cost increase has “some real implications” for the municipality’s “net levy requirement and overall resident affordability.” If policing costs for next year come in at $15.5 million it would add another 2.4 per cent to the projected net levy increase of 8.5 per cent.
The OPP is the largest contracted service that Norfolk County budgets for annually.
Everets said Norfolk’s financial staff have reached out to the OPP for information about the jump in cost and “how we can improve communication going forward.”
“Initial feedback received from the local detachment and OPP Municipal Policing Bureau indicate that concern about the increases is a common trend throughout the province.”
In a letter to the municipality, the Municipal Policing Bureau said it will be hosting a webinar information session about the matter.
Councilors agreed to send a letter to the provincial government expressing their concern.
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