Sault Ste. Marie city council wants more details on cost of disbanding local police and switching to OPP

City councillors in Sault Ste. Marie have voted in favour of a motion to compare the cost of policing between the municipal force and the Ontario Provincial Police.

The motion was put forward by city councillor and former Sault Ste. Marie police officer Sonny Spina.

"The intention behind this motion is nothing more than council doing due diligence for an expense line item to the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie," he said.

"I don't want in any way, shape or form to downplay the importance of the police service within our community or the importance of the job everyone within the police service does."

Spina said despite that, the cost of the city police force makes up 27 per cent of the municipal budget and a provincial report shows it works out to $463 per ratepayer in the Sault. 

"The provincial average is $277," he said. "So we're paying a significant amount more in Sault Ste. Marie."

Several municipalities in northeastern Ontario have explored the option of switching over to the Ontario Provincial Police service or made the change.

North Bay city council had a similar debate in 2018, but decided not to explore the change further. West Nipissing, Espanola and Temiskaming Shores have disbanded their local police and hired OPP in recent years.

Sault city councillor Sandra Hollingsworth said she had concerns about the cost of switching to the provincial police.

"OPP is catching some towns by surprise, leaving one mayor feeling shocked and disgusted," she said.

"All OPP costs are up. The mayor of Russell Township said to CBC that his bill from OPP went from $2.3 million in 2023 to roughly $2.8 million in 2024."

But councillor Angela Caputo said the cost of the municipal police force is on the rise as well.

"In my time on council alone, we've seen the police budget grow by over 30 per cent," she said.

"Getting a price doesn't mean we have to go ahead with it. But I think that at this point, I am very much in favour of getting the costing and seeing what comes from that."

Staffing shortages, benefits attributed to police deficit

Sault city council heard from the interim police chief Brent Duguay and police services board chair John Bruno about the cost overruns. Last year, the police budget was overspent by almost $2.5 million and this year, the projected deficit is $1.9 million.

"An unprecedented 15 to 20 per cent of our police officers are unable to answer emergency calls due to a workplace injury," Burno said.

"Additional officers were hired to ensure we could provide adequate and effective policing."

Interim chief Duguay said the main cause of the deficit for 2024 was increased spending on salaries and benefits.

"This includes approximately $1 million in overtime for major occurrences, staffing shortages and investigative support," he said.

Duguay said steps are being taken to address the budget, including reducing non-essential travel and not hiring "outside of the operational needs."

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said he supported the motion, arguing it makes sense to get more information before making a decision. 

"The fact that we've got a deficit in last year's police budget and a projected deficit in this year's police budget means that the cost of everything needs to be examined," he said.

"This is one of the ways we can do that. Do I think that it will necessarily come in at an amount so much lower that it's going to make the transition to the OPP worth it? I highly doubt it to be honest. I think that it is the difficult, yes, but responsible thing to do to support this so that we can have the information before us."

The motion was carried, with Hollingsworth the only councillor to vote against.