District Councillor Bob Young couldn’t convince his fellow Councillors who represent Muskoka’s towns that the distribution of policing costs is unfair, but he’s not giving up yet.
His argument – that the District is one of just three of Ontario’s 329 municipalities that apply policing costs to the tax levy and the only one that does so without the unanimous agreement of all of its members – was rejected.
A new OPP billing model came into effect in January 2015. Under that model, all municipalities pay a base cost plus an amount based on the number of calls for service.
“Three hundred and twenty-six municipalities use the number that comes out of (the billing model) and charge the lower or upper tier municipality as appropriate,” said Young. “Three of them, including the District Municipality of Muskoka, put it on the tax levy. The moment you put it on the tax levy it is allocated based on weighted assessment costs, it has nothing to do with the formula. So it totally distorts the formula which was created to add transparency to the cost of policing.”
Young said that the cost of policing for Lake of Bays should be $1.2 million according to the model, but the Township is actually charged $1.8 million. The Township of Muskoka Lakes pays close to $3 million more than it should, he said.
“The intent of my motion was to try to convince District Council to charge based on the OPP formula and not on the tax levy. The other two (Ontario) communities do so with the full concurrence and acceptance of their lower tier municipalities. Only the District of Muskoka imposes it when it’s truly against the wishes of three of their member municipalities.”
When asked for his thoughts on the motion, District Councillor and Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison said, “It’s a District service and services delivered at the District level for the most part are delivered on an assessment basis which means that the townships, especially on some of these social services, pay a greater share of the cost on the services they use.”
That upsets them and I understand that they are upset about it. At the same time, the reason we have governments is to pool resources to help each other out. This is one of those examples where one of those expensive social services that we would have difficulty affording on our own, we pool resources to make it work. Ambulance service is another example.
District Councillor and Huntsville mayor Scott Aitchison
Young said that none of the arguments he heard at the meeting made a lot of sense. “Some feel they are entitled to it, one said the township people are the ones coming into our towns and causing the need for services…that’s just patently stupid, and some hid behind not having much information. There is no rational reason, they just stumbled around with why they won’t do it.”
The motion was defeated 11-7.
“I crashed and burned as I have before,” said Young. “The vote goes 100 per cent the towns against it and the townships for it. But of course we are two votes short at the townships so we will never win on a straight vote. It’s a bit frustrating.”
It does show a pattern of the towns ganging up on the townships and that will all play out in the fullness and goodness of time. District Councillor and Lake of Bays Mayor Bob Young
That imbalance – that the towns of Huntsville, Bracebridge and Gravenhurst have a combined 12 votes at the District table while the townships of Lake of Bays, Muskoka Lakes and Georgian Bay have just 10 – is something Young is still hoping to fix.
He wants to see equal representation at the District table, and he hopes to achieve that by getting the Townships of Lake of Bays and Georgian Bay each one more vote.
“Rather than physically changing the Council composition, under a section of the Municipal Act we are allowed to have a representative with more than one vote. So I’m going to ask that the Township of Lake of Bays and the Township of Georgian Bay be given one extra vote each which would then give them four votes at the table and make them equal partners in Muskoka.”
It will be a long, arduous process requiring Young to get a triple majority – first he needs the agreement of those wanting the change, which he has; then each municipality must agree via a public meeting; and then it must pass at District Council.
“It’s virtually an impossible task,” said Young. But he’s optimistic that the process will change over time.
“There is a recognition at the Municipal Affairs ministry that a triple majority when you have situations like ours where you don’t have equal votes can be an impossible situation. They’re looking into whether there should be some changes to make it a more fair process.”
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Thanks for trying, Bob. Some of the big supporters of foundation from the township won’t be able to provide the level of support that they have.