Province lowers the boom, announces OPP costs.

Jeff Green | Oct 08, 2014

The townships of Addington Highlands, North Frontenac, and Central Frontenac have received their 2015 invoices for policing, and the news is not good.

Each of the townships will see an increase of $40 per household in 2015, the maximum increase that is allowed per year under the new formula.

In Addington Highlands, where there are 2,763 dwellings, that amounts to an increase of $110,000. The township paid $515,409 to the OPP this year, and will pay $625,000 next year. But that is not the end of it; the costs will increase by another $110,000 in 2016, and a further $27,000 in 2017 when the township will reach its target cost of $766,317, a 50% increase over the 2014 cost.

The News is worse in North Frontenac, partly because the old model was very kind to North Frontenac. In 2014 the township paid only $230,000 to the OPP, less than half of the amount paid by Addington Highlands even though there are substantially more households in North Frontenac. Controversially, households include seasonal residences, leaving North Frontenac with 3,464 households.

Based on the $40 per year increase cap, the cost to North Frontenac will go up by $139,000 to $370,000. But it does not end there. The cost will increase by $139,000 each year for three more years, and in the fifth year, 2019, it will go up a further $58,000. By the end of the entire phase in, North Frontenac ratepayers will be paying $845,000 for policing, an increase of $615,000 over 2014, or more than 300 per cent.

In Central Frontenac, which has 4008 dwellings, the $40 capped increase means the cost will go up by $160,000. The township paid $787,000 in 2014, and will pay $948,000 next year. The price will go up by $40 per year for another 2 years and by 2017 it will cost $1,270,000, a $483,000 annual increase for 3 years, or 60%.

The average ratepayer in Addington Highlands will see a $40 increase in both 2015 and 2016 and a $10 increase in 2017.

The average ratepayer in North Frontenac will see a $40 increase in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, and a further $17 increase in 2019.

What do all these numbers mean? Taxes are going up.