Zorra Township receiving provincial dollars to mitigate rising OPP costs

Connor Luczka, Echo Correspondent

Just days after CAO Diane Larder shared that policing costs were going to be a huge portion of the 2025 tax increase Zorra residents would get, the province of Ontario announced funding for small and rural municipalities for that very same issue.

At the most recent township council meeting, Larder shared that they received a memo from the province just recently about the announcement.

“They have reached out to the municipality to let us know that we will be receiving a decrease or a refund in OPP costs for 2025 at this time,” Larder said. “It's estimated we will be receiving approximately $211,000 as our reduced amount for 2025 and once I get confirmation I will be doing a report to council at the next council meeting.”

“They've heard from municipalities about the large increase and some municipalities are ranging increases anywhere from 15 to 30 per cent of an increase,” Larder went on to say. “And municipalities are finding that…it's hitting the budget quite heavily. And so, the province has come back and offered this reduction for us to be able to manage our 2025 budget.”

Before this announcement, policing costs were increasing in Zorra this coming year by $235,687, for a total budget line of $1,396,672.

That was a 19 per cent increase from last year and represented a tax levy increase of 2.03 per cent.

“Obviously, this is going to have some financial implications,” Coun. Katie Grigg said about the announcement. “We're aware this was something that is going to have some impact here for Zorra. Whether it's enough or encompassing all those changes – to be determined.”

A total of $77 million in financial relief was announced by the province to offset the costs of policing for small and rural municipalities.

The provincial funds 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.