Lower-tier municipalities across Grey County are facing significant increases to their costs for policing from the OPP.
At Grey County council’s meeting on Nov. 14, CollingwoodToday polled the six Grey County municipalities that receive policing from the OPP about the costs for 2025. All six municipalities told similar stories.
Chatsworth representatives said their policing costs in 2025 are up 21 per cent, which is a 2.32 per cent increase to local taxes. Georgian Bluffs county councillors said they too are seeing a 21 per cent increase in policing costs, which equates to a 2.5 per cent local tax increase.
In the Municipality of Meaford the OPP costs are up 26 per cent. The increase for Grey Highlands is 21 per cent. Southgate faces a 26 per cent increase. The Town of The Blue Mountains is staring at a 19.9 per cent increase for policing. The Town of Collingwood, in neighbouring Simcoe County, is facing a 37 per cent increase for the OPP.
Owen Sound, West Grey and Hanover have their own local police services and do not have policing contracts with the OPP.
With local municipalities about to enter into the budget-setting season, the OPP cost increases are a primary concern and are causing significant pressure on the local property tax base.
“It’s outrageous, that’s a 2.4 per cent tax increase right off the bat,” said Grey Highlands Mayor Paul McQueen in an interview. “We’re going to have a challenging time. It’s huge.”
Although policing isn’t a county-level issue, Grey County Warden Brian Milne, who is the mayor of the Township of Southgate, said the rising costs of OPP policing are a serious issue for local government.
“It’s very concerning. The lower tier municipalities have nowhere else to go with that increase, but to the ratepayers,” Milne said in an interview after the meeting. “We have absolutely no control over it.”
OPP policing costs have risen across the board for Ontario municipalities due to an increase in salaries and benefits that stemmed from the ratification of the 2023-2026 OPPA Uniform and Civilian agreements and a return to pre-pandemic levels of workload.
Milne said he fully understands and accepts the reasons for the OPP cost increases. However, he said it is not fair to municipalities for the provincial government to make such a settlement and then just pass the costs on to property taxpayers.
“At the end of the day, if the province is going to hand out a deal like that, we need more funding at this end,” said Milne.
As a result of the increases, Southgate council has passed a resolution that calls on the provincial government to “immediately implement sustainable funding for small rural municipalities by reabsorbing the cost of the Ontario Provincial Police Force back into the provincial budget.”
In addition, The Blue Mountains council is seeking a meeting with provincial officials at the upcoming Rural Ontario Municipalities Association conference to discuss the OPP cost increases.
