City charging Lakefield 4% more for policing

Peterborough Police may continue patrolling Lakefield on contract for two more years – 2019 and 2020 – but city councillors have voted to charge four per cent more next year for the service.

That would mean Selwyn Township – which governs Lakefield – would be asked for $593,173 for policing in 2019, compared to $570,359 in 2018 (a difference of $22,814).

The contract guarantees an officer covering Lakefield for 18 hours daily for 2019.

City treasurer Richard Freymond told councillors on Monday evening that he’d calculated the city could potentially charge 3.84 per cent more in 2019 (to keep up with the cost to provide the service).

But Mayor Daryl Bennett, who sits on the police board, said he thinks the city should ask for four per cent more – and councillors agreed.

“I think that’s not an unreasonable amount to be asking for,” Bennett said.

The city’s police force has been serving the village of Lakefield on contract since the beginning of 2015.

The four-year contract is set to expire at the end of 2018, but Selwyn Township council has asked for a two-year extension.

The idea is to give the township enough time to consider whether it wants to stick with city police or hire the Ontario Provincial Police beyond 2020.

Meanwhile, Lakefield and Peterborough Police have a long history.

Prior to 2015, the service was called Peterborough-Lakefield Community Police; Lakefield was a part-owner.

But the force de-amalgamated on Jan. 1, 2015: It became owned by the city only. Meanwhile Lakefield still needed policing, and the contract was struck with city police.

On Monday at City Hall, Coun. Dan McWilliams – who also sits on the police board – asked CAO Sandra Clancy how much Lakefield paid for policing prior to de-amalgamation of the force.

Clancy said the township paid roughly $800,000 annually – but for that they were part-owners of the force and had a representative on the police board (meaning they had a vote in how the force operated).

“Because they had a voice on how the police service was run, they were willing to pay more,” she said.

That didn’t satisfy McWilliams, who called himself a “naysayer” who still thinks the city is offering Lakefield too much of a bargain.

“This is a world-class police force – I want to make sure we are being paid for those services,” he said.

Coun. Keith Riel was also unhappy that the city is charging so much less money for Lakefield policing than it did, prior to the de-amalgamation of the force.

“I don’t believe the costs are right – I have a problem with the numbers,” Riel said.

But Bennett said that prior to the de-amalgamation of the force, Lakefield paid a sort of flat fee for policing for the year: If there had been a major crime such as a murder that required a pricey investigation, he said, then city taxpayers would have been left to cover the cost overrun.

Councillors gave the plan to extend the contract – and charge four per cent more next year – preliminary approval on Monday.

The plan needs to go to a final vote at a forthcoming city council meeting.