Ballooning police costs are a big part of the 2025 Zorra budget

Connor Luczka, Echo Correspondent

Zorra Township Council has tentatively approved the 2025 budget, and a large portion of the tax levy increase is due to policing costs.

The bill from the Oxford Provincial Police is up by over $235,000 from 2024 for a total budget line of $1,396,672. That is an 18.96 per cent increase from last year and represents an overall tax increase of 2.03 per cent.

The dramatic increase is due to two factors. Not only are policing costs increasing, but the township is rapidly growing which is shown on the bottom line.

CAO Diane Larder explained the township has an agreement with police and it states the township pays for any increase in services it needs and estimates ahead of the new year.

The OPP also reconciles two years pervious so each year the township is refunded or billed the difference of actuals versus estimates. In 2025, $82,000 is being paid to the OPP to reconcile 2023 on top of the estimated costs of the coming year.

After Coun. Kevin Stewart asked about if the municipality can monitor what kind of bill they will be getting each year, Larder confirmed that the numbers come directly from the OPP and there isn’t a way for the township to know before the numbers are provided.

During deliberations, council discussed grant opportunities for mitigating policing costs moving forward. Mayor Marcus Ryan mentioned one that he knows about through the solicitor general’s office. The community safety and well-being program means to mitigate operational costs by using policing alternatives to prevent crime, among other initiatives. He is aware of the Woodstock Police Service having received a grant in the past but was unsure if Oxford County OPP has gotten it in the past.

Barring that program, no other outside opportunities were discussed during the meeting; however, on Nov. 29 the Province of Ontario announced $77 million in financial relief to offset the costs of policing for small and rural municipalities. Zorra Township expects confirmation of its portion soon which could be used to offset policing costs.

The funds could go specifically to offset the 2023 reconciled costs by 3.75 per cent, the 2023 reconciled overtime costs of 44 per cent, and invoiced 2025 policing costs by 10 per cent.

The province also announced it will be reviewing the OPP billing model.