KIRKLAND LAKE - The ever-increasing cost of provincial policing services is becoming a heavy burden for small municipalities, says a Northern Ontario mayor.
Kirkland Lake Mayor Stacy Wight is voicing concerns about the escalating costs of Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) contracts for small, rural municipalities, stressing the financial strain being placed on local governments already struggling with limited resources.
Wight told TimminsToday the town's OPP billing for 2025 has jumped nearly $700,000, which is a five per cent increase in costs before the municipality begins its own budgeting for essential services.
“The annual billing cycle has left many northern and rural municipalities blindsided by the increase to costing,” Wight said.
“I've heard other communities, their increase is up to 22 per cent, so you can imagine that that's just devastating, especially to even smaller municipalities than Kirkland Lake.”
Kirkland Lake’s total billing for 2025 is projected at over $3.5 million, up from $2.88 million in 2024.
This increase, Wight emphasized, does not include additional charges for things like RIDE programs or other policing services that are billed separately.
According to Wight, the total for all municipalities across the province is over $209 million.
“It's an interesting and complex kind of formula that they use. On the billing statement for base service, the cost per property is $189,” she said.
“The cost, it’s not based on just Kirkland Lake, it’s based on the costing needs of the entire province, and then they break it down to cost per household.”
While the police services themselves are essential and performed by local people, Wight said the financial burden of OPP contracts is becoming unsustainable for many municipalities.
“The increase in OPP costs really limits what we can provide to our communities,” she said.
“For Kirkland Lake, $3.5 million could have funded an entire infrastructure project, like the Taylor Avenue project we've been working on for years.”
A key issue, according to Wight, is the provincial government’s lack of foresight and preparation in addressing the financial pressures on smaller municipalities.
She referenced a motion originally brought forward by the Township of Terrace Bay in July 2024, calling on the province to take on the costs of OPP services for smaller municipalities.
This motion was discussed and approved during Kirkland Lake’s council meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 19), where Wight and other councillors voiced their agreement having OPP costs “re-uploaded” to the provincial budget.
“Ironically or not ironically, this actual motion was a support motion that originated in Terrace Bay in July of this year. So this call went out prior even to the billing cycle,” Wight said.
“The DSSAB (District Social Services Administration Board), public health, OPP services, these are all services that have been downloaded from the province, causing real havoc in our budgeting process for the items that are deemed within the scope of municipal level and what we're to provide.”
Wight noted the province's history of supporting larger cities while smaller municipalities often struggle to secure adequate funding.
“The infrastructure deficit across all Ontario municipalities is quite alarming, and that's a systematic issue over decades and decades, and in the case of smaller municipalities, when we are required to fund provincial responsibilities, it affects our ability to work on projects that are a necessity of life for our community,” Wight said.
Smaller municipalities also face a disadvantage when compared to larger ones because their projects don’t generate the same media attention, Wight said. For example, building 450 homes in a northern municipality is a significant accomplishment, but it doesn't have the same visibility as building 450,000 homes in larger urban areas like York Region.
“Of course, building 450 homes in any municipality in the north would be insane, and would absolutely change the landscape of that municipality,” Wight said.
“But in the scheme of those big splashy headlines, we just don't deliver for the province in those ways, and so we're at a great disadvantage when we're compared to and we're put in funding lots with the larger municipalities. We simply cannot compete.”
