Three local Municipalities are once again teaming up to fight rising policing costs.
The coalition consists of Sioux Lookout, Pickle Lake and Kenora.
In a joint statement, the three communities say since 2015, they have collectively paid out over 30 million dollars more than they should have for the day-to-day services of the Ontario Provincial Police.
Officials stress that’s about 4 million dollars annually that could have been invested in critical infrastructure needs.
They will be asking the new provincial government to change the 8-year-old cost-formula for OPP-provided services.
The group says the current formula is based on cost per property but doesn’t reflect that each of the three communities are hubs for much larger populations.
They stress the current model is not fair, not equitable, and a burden on taxpayers.
Sioux Lookout Mayor Doug Lawrance says, “While deteriorating roads are most visible, it is water and sewer infrastructure that needs our attention, and quickly. Day-to-day it is working fine, but we need to replace outdated infrastructure. Our taxpayers rightly expect us to address problems like these before they become serious issues, but our extraordinarily high cost of policing makes these investments difficult.”
Kayla Blakney is the deputy mayor of Pickle Lake and says, “Any increase in policing costs sends a ripple of financial disruption through our municipality. Infrastructure investments are easy to put off, as most of them are unseen. But that is not sustainable. As responsible elected officials, we have an obligation to make this right.”
