Rural Mayors Take on OPP over Billing

Jonas Bonnetta | Jun 15, 2016

The Rural Mayors' Forum of Eastern Ontario (RMFEO) met with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), as well as the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) and the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) at the end of last month to discuss concerns they have with the OPP's new costing formula for billing properties for policing.

The RMFEO, in their analysis of the OPP billing model, found some discrepancies between the property counts given by MPAC to the OPP for billing and the population growth they're recognizing in their municipalities.

During the meeting, MPAC explained that a property count is the total number of residential units identified on a property, plus the number of commercial and industrial properties identified on the tax roll.

A “unit” is defined, by MPAC, as a self-contained residence intended for seasonal or year-round use. MPAC considers basement apartments, house trailers, and cabins, all as separate units under these provincial regulations, which means that one property can have multiple, “billable”, units on it as far as MPAC and the OPP are concerned.

As well, each apartment in a condominium building counts as an individual unit, and a residence that doubles as a commercial space is considered two units by these standards.

For commercial units, they are counted based on the tax roll so a building may have multiple units in it but is only taxed as one unit by MPAC.

The OPP bill municipalities a base service fee, based on these property counts, and then also bill separately for individual calls of service.

While the OPP is billing the municipalities based on property counts provided by MPAC, the municipalities aren't necessarily able to recoup this amount through taxation because there is a disparity between property counts and property assessments. Municipalities aren't, currently, taxing properties the same way the OPP looks at them and to do so would require changes to the Municipal Act, MPAC explained.

All the parties involved have agreed to continue this discussion and work on some of these issues in hopes that they can reach a consensus on the OPP billing formula.