Smiths Falls residents pay 2 times more for police than Ottawans

The mayor of Smiths Falls wants his town to consider switching to Ontario Provincial Police as the cost for its local service costs residents twice as much as the provincial average.

Mayor Shawn Pankow said residents pay an average of $1,100 per household each year. The average household in Ottawa will pay $553 for policing in 2015.

"There's a lot of things that we're not able to accomplish. A lot of issues that need to be addressed — we're really challenged and handcuffed," Pankow said.

The town is launching a study to examine the cost of policing, which will include a committee of councillors and town officials tasked with putting all options on the table.

There's a lot of things that we're not able to accomplish.- Smiths Falls Mayor Shawn Pankow

"I think we have to," he said. "We don't know what the end result will be, but we do know what the base cost is likely to be, and it's a matter of determining the calls for service fees that would be in addition that." 

Smiths Falls considered switching to the OPP 10 years ago but decided it would be even more expensive.

Since then, Pankow said the cost formula has changed and a review is necessary.

Another option could be to keep the Smiths Falls police service, but provide policing to other jurisdictions that would share the cost, he said.

"We can reach out to our neighbours to see if there's an interest in the possibilities of us extending our services to those neighbouring townships," he said.