Per household costs for OPP policing in the four County townships is less than the Canadian average, but higher than the provincial average, Haliburton Highlands OPP detachment board chair Andrew Fletcher told a Jan. 21 meeting.
Reviewing the 2026 OPP billing statements – capped at an 11 per cent increase this year – Fletcher said Highlands East is paying the most, at $305 per household, followed by Dysart et al, at $294, Minden Hills at $275 and Algonquin Highlands at $239.05. Fletcher said the national average is $362.
“So, you’re well within those numbers. We may not be happy about them but, again, the cost of policing seems to be going up.”
However, he said OPP cited the provincial average at $203. He said the Highlands municipalities are above that and it was “something we need to manage going forward.”
Fletcher said they are also paying less in 2026 than they did in 2016. He added the costs are “really going to bite” the townships when caps and funding support end.
“I think we need to focus on (containing costs) a little bit further in 2026.” He added that from an OPP perspective, “their costs are their costs”, with things such as wage increases and higher benefit charges.
He said the funding model remains unsustainable for small municipalities. He suggested more provincial government lobbying was needed, not just by mayors and their associations, but detachment boards.
Board member Bob Carter said, “the ominous words in all of this; is the statement says final reconciliation of 2026 costs will appear in your 2028 annual billing statement.
“We were capped at 11 per cent in Minden Hills, and assume everybody else was. The difference was pretty significant. If this keeps accumulating until we get to 2028, it is a little like the Sword of Damocles hanging over our head. I don’t know exactly how we are going to afford it,” The Sword of Damocles is an ancient Greek parable. It signifies a looming, precarious threat.
Carter said there could be a provincial election around 2028 and “the province may decide to be nice to us. I am very, very worried about this.”
Fletcher said he knows of some detachments where households pay $329 and $342, and it is $389 in Toronto and $380 in Sudbury. But he conceded the costs continue to rise and are put on households. “That’s the key.”
Board member Liz Danielsen raised a years-long issue in pointing out billing is done on a per household basis, yet the Highlands has a huge seasonal population. “I believe we are being billed unfairly.” She said they had pled their case and “met no success at all, but that doesn’t mean we can’t revisit that. It is the case for a lot of tourism-based communities.”
Community representative Andy Chvedukas said the OPP billing formula had been a sore point for him for years. He recalled the big increase in 2014-15. He noted the OPP Municipal Policing Bureau (MPB) spoke to the board early in its term and he’d like them back to better explain the invoicing. Fletcher said nothing would change unless the provincial government shifted. “I’d still like to keep their (MPB) feet to the fire,” Chvedukas said.
Carter agreed it had to be a full court press from all stakeholders. “Once it gets to a certain noise level, the provincial government is going to realize it has an issue.”
