DRYDEN — The City of Dryden wants to talk to Solicitor General Michael Kerzner about policing costs that councillors say are far too high.
The city’s delegation plans to discuss the issue with Kerzner during the Rural Ontario Municipal Association’s (ROMA) annual conference, Jan. 21-23 in Toronto.
On a per capita basis, Dryden is paying far more for policing by Ontario Provincial Police than nearby Kenora – or any other Ontario city, for that matter.
The situation is unfair and “the solicitor general has the power to make it not so,” Coun. Catherine Kiewning said during Monday’s city council meeting, following a presentation on the topic by chief administrative officer Roger Nesbitt.
Relief is needed because the high policing costs have an impact on Dryden’s ability to maintain services and infrastructure, Mayor Jack Harrison said Tuesday.
“We’re in a situation where reserves are quite low and we need to actually replace some of the water main [and] sewer infrastructure that’s aging. A lot of our facilities need upgrading,” he said.
Those needs can’t be properly met if the city has to continue putting a huge chunk of its revenues into policing, he added.
“We’re hopeful that we can meet with the solicitor general and, I guess, persuade him that Dryden is worthy of having a rebate… That would help us keep our cost [to] a reasonable amount during this, our transition period,” said Harrison.
Dryden began a three-year transition from a municipal police service to policing by the OPP in February 2022.
Billing rates will be adjusted at the end of the transition based on local crime rates and calls for service.
Harrison said he believes the bill for policing will shrink by then, but in the meantime policing costs are draining the city’s coffers.
Dryden’s police costs per property are estimated at $1,397 in 2023, compared to $792 in nearby Kenora and $539 in Fort Frances, Nesbitt told Dryden councillors Monday night.
On a per capita basis, the policing bill is significantly higher than what Thunder Bay’s municipal service costs that city, according to information presented by Nesbitt.
Dryden has “the absolute highest policing costs” of all municipalities in Ontario, he told councillors.
Even after the transition has ended, he said, Dryden will still have excessive policing costs.
The OPP has told the city its 2024 policing bill will be even higher than in 2023 and will consume about 40 per cent of municipal property tax revenue, Harrison said.
Dryden seeks an operating grant or rebate that would reduce its per-property policing costs to a level comparable to nearby municipalities like Kenora and Fort Frances, he said.
Two people are set to represent Dryden at the ROMA conference: Nesbitt and Coun. Michelle Price.
Finance committee chair Coun. Bryan Tardiff, who won’t be attending, offered a succinct answer to the question of what he hopes Price and Nesbitt will get out of their short meeting with Kerzner: “Well, get him to listen for starters, I guess.”
Getting Kerzner’s ear for a few moments is far short of what Tardiff said he’d really like to see.
“I would rather they would show up here in the community and talk to the citizens and the police whose feet are on the ground fighting this war we got going on, so that they can understand how the taxpayers are basically victims,” he said.
