With the policing landscape changing around them, Shelburne council has no choice but to face the reality.
On Monday (Jan. 20), council learned that the disbandment of Orangeville Police Service (OPS) means Shelburne will be faced with increased policing costs.
In her report to council, chief administrative officer Denyse Morrissey says an OPS document dated September 2018, but not brought to staff’s attention until mid-December 2019, impacts the operations of the Shelburne Police Services (SPS).
“The services and related costs applicable to the “Orangeville Police Service Directive” and the services provided to the Shelburne Police Services and the
related costs were not evaluated as part of our 2019 police services review,” adds Morrissey.
Town staff and the consultant hired to provide an analysis of SPS and OPP weren’t provided the report prior to council’s decision last July to reject OPP’s contract offer.
Morrissey’s report estimates that the SPS budget in 2021 would increase 12.36 per cent or more than $924,000. The costs relate to staffing, court costs and dispatch service.
Chief Kent Moore reports that in order to meet the required 24 hour, 365 days a year supervision that SPS relied on OPS to assist with, it will require an additional two supervisors and a rank between him and the existing sergeants.
The town also anticipates that a new dispatch service will be an increased cost and it is already faced with an estimated $3-million police station renovation.
Nearly seven months after deciding to keep its municipal police force, council decided to change course and request another OPP costing.
