Tillsonburg not changing model for policing costs

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Tillsonburg is not moving ahead with a possible plan to change the way it charges for policing services.

As it stands now, the total amount the town is billed by the OPP is $3.85 million, which breaks down to $425.26 per property. The cost of OPP makes up 17 per cent of the town’s $22.3 million general levy.

A report to council was requested at the Jan. 13 meeting “to determine if the

O.P.P. costs can be added as a separate line on the tax bill with the intent to bill per household to create a system of equalization throughout the municipality.” The motion made reference to the present billing system which sees the town billed for OPP policing on a per household rate, but then the total is put into the levy as a lump sum. The original motion, moved by Mayor Deb Gilvesy, made reference to “unfair and unjust billing practice where households are impacted by different billing rates.”

In the report from the town’s finance department, it stated the tax billing software is capable of handling a separate line, but there would be extensive calculations required to sort out different levy rates for multi-residential properties and then manually enter 7,000 different charges.

A change in the system would be seen across residential, multi-residential, commercial and industrial properties. Commercial and industrial properties falling into the median ($190,000 for commercial and $1.38 million for industrial) and larger categories would see a decrease in the portion they pay for policing. On the residential front, median property owners – assessed at $242,000 – would pay $45.57 with the change. Those with larger property assessments (value $616,000 average) would pay $541 less for policing and those with smaller property assessments would pay $252 more.

Overall, the report found that 75 per cent of residential property owners would pay more if the change were implemented and 25 per cent would pay less. Multi-residential property owners would be hit the hardest by the change, with the amount varying dependent on the number of units. The opposite was seen for commercial property owners, where 35 per cent would pay more and 65 per cent would pay less. Industrial property owners would be the largest beneficiaries of this proposed change.

The report also identified that a separate line on tax bills may be considered a “head tax/lot tax” by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, and it may not be allowed. A change in how the policing costs are charged could also cause an issue with putting liens against properties and increase the amount of tax arrears.

Council accepted the report as information, deciding not to proceed with it.