Declining fine revenue may threaten Lambton County police grants

Shrinking fine revenue from Lambton County’s provincial offenses court may jeopardize an annual grant helping county municipalities pay for policing.

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A county council committee this week backed a recommendation to maintain the grant for 2024, but begin discussions with officials in the 11 municipalities about possibly ending the annual payments after next year. The recommendation goes to council Nov. 1.

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“We want to. . . continue some dialogue with all the area municipalities and let them know we are seeing some declining revenues,” said Larry Palarchio, Lambton’s finance, facilities and court services general manager.

Since 2000, Lambton County has taken $600,000 a year in provincial offenses court fine revenue and divided it between its 11 municipalities, based on their individual policing costs, but the number of offenses coming to court, and the fine revenue they generate, has been dropping .

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At the same time, the Lambton court and others are facing a shortage of justices of the peace that’s reducing the number of court days and causing delays.

Ontario passed down provincial offenses court operations and fine revenue to municipalities in 1999, but Lambton has seen fine revenue decline over the last decade as charges dropped by about 37 per cent, the county said.

Provincial offenses court hear cases under the Highway Traffic Act, civic bylaws and provincial environmental protection, occupational health and safety, animal control and trespassing laws.

Fine revenue in Lambton, which totaled $2.4 million in 2013, is expected to fall below $2 million this year, a county report said. That’s about $475,000 less than expected, officials said.

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The local court has seen fewer cases overall, and fewer cases in recent years resulting in large fines under provincial environmental laws.

“It was a lot of little factors that came together that has reduced the revenue,” said Warden Kevin Marriott.

The county uses fine revenue to run the court in downtown Sarnia’s shared services center, fund the policing grant to municipalities, help Sarnia police cover court security costs and lower county property taxes.

Lambton is one of the only provincial offenses courts in the region providing financial support for local policing, the county said.

The county’s annual policing grants range from a high of $374,653 for Sarnia to a low of $1,478 for the Village of Oil Springs.

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“It’s nice to get the rebate,” said Doug Cook, mayor of Lambton Shores, which receives $65,513. “It does help us” but “if the revenue wasn’t there, we’d have to look at that.”

Lambton Shores’ bill for OPP policing is rising $93,000 this year to more than $2.9 million, he said.

“I appreciate the grant staying in place, but I also appreciate the county’s under a lot of pressure to maintain their budget,” Cook said. “I’ve been a big supporter of trying to keep the county budget as low as possible.”

There are options, Palarchio said.

“We can leave that grant at the $600,000 level, or we can consider a gradual . . . or immediate reduction,” he said.

“I don’t think it will disappear, myself, but everything has to be on the table,” Marriott said. “It probably won’t be increasing, that’s for sure.”

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