Kenora, Ont., mayor calls for provincial help as municipal policing costs skyrocket

Kenora, Ontario's mayor says the province needs to come up with a new way to bill communities that are patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Dan Reynard said Kenora's policing bill keeps going up and has grown by $750,000 over the past two years.

The city has a contract with the OPP, plus it pays more when the numbers of calls go up.

Reynard said it's to the point where the city will have to cut other services, just to pay for police.

"We need to have the province sit down with us, review this, and we need to come up with a better mechanism on how we're billed for the services," he said.

Bear calls costly

Reynard said Kenora serves as a hub for the region, meaning some calls attended to by OPP are for people who are not living in Kenora.

He also said the city shouldn't have to pay when police are called to deal with bears. He said in the past, that would have been dealt with by the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry.

"You know, (MNDMNRF) changed the way the bear programs worked over the years," he said, "but last year was unique."

"Our calls for service for bear calls were astronomical, and really, is that a municipal responsibility?"

Inspector Bert McDonald is the manager of the Municipal Policing Bureau of the OPP. McDonald said that under the OPP billing model, municipalities pay a standard per-property charge.

He said everybody pays the same per-property charge for basic services. He said in 2022, that will be $172 per property.

Kenora below minimum threshold for discount

McDondald said the other major portion of the bill is the calls for service portion, and municipalities are billed for reactive calls for service.

"So that's the variable cost," he said.

McDonald said that a municipality can receive a potential cost reduction via billing regulation under the Police Services Act. He said under that regulation, there's a discount table and municipalities can receive a discount if they have a very high level of calls for service.

"Unfortunately for Kenora, they are just below the minimum threshold," said McDonald. "The discounts in that model start at five percent and escalate to 95 percent."

McDonald said of the 328 municipalities that are receiving police service from the OPP, only two municipalities have qualified for the discount: Sioux Lookout and Pickle Lake.

Reynard said there is no problem with the service received by the OPP, and said Kenora has a "great" relationship with them. He said he understands the OPP must follow the guidelines that are set for them.

Reynard said resolving the situation will require political will.

"So this is we're going to really need the province to sit down with us," he said. "We need the province to help us on this issue."