Prince Twp. cuts deal for policing. Is $16,479 a month too sweet?

Prince Township is not high-maintenance.

At least, not when it comes to crime.

Home to a little over 1,000 souls, the municipality immediately northwest of Sault Ste. Marie has averaged something like seven calls for police service a month over the past two years.

These tend to be non-serious calls, but police protection costs serious money.

This past week, the City of Sault Ste. Marie and Prince Township finalized a $16,479-a-month deal to have Sault Ste. Marie Police Service continue serving and protecting the people of Prince.

That might seem a lot of money for seven calls, but some Sault Ste. Marie city councillors think Prince should actually be paying more than that.

They argue that the per capita policing cost paid by Prince should be no less than that paid by Sault Ste. Marie ratepayers, even though Prince is a quiet-as-a-churchmouse rural township with Gros Cap the closest thing it has to a named community.

The five-year deal, which has now been approved by councils of both municipalities, is expected to end years of horse-trading aimed at keeping the township's policing costs down to an amount proportional to Prince's low crime rate.

Historically, Prince Township has purchased a number of municipal services from its much-larger neighbour.

The last five-year contract to have Sault Ste. Marie police cars patrolling Prince was signed in March 2014.

Prince served notice in December 2017 that it wanted to end that arrangement early, effective Dec. 31, 2018.

Instead, it was going to arrange for policing through Ontario Provincial Police.

By September 2018, however, the township had realized the OPP's grass was no greener, and it wasn't going to get a better deal there.

On Nov. 13, 2018, Sault Ste. Marie Police Chief Hugh Stevenson went back to Prince with a revised service contract proposal.

After closed-door discussions that night, Prince councillors agreed to authorize Mayor Ken Lamming and chief administrative officer Peggy Greco to enter into a five-year policing agreement with Sault Ste. Marie Police Service.

But no, it couldn't be that simple.

"It was subsequently explained to both parties that under the Police Act, 2008 such agreements could only be entered into by the consenting municipalities and needed to describe the level as well as type of services to be provided," Al Horsman, then the Sault's CAO said in a written report.

It was then decided Prince would continue to be policed on a month-by-month basis under terms of the 2014 agreement until the legal wrinkles could be ironed out.

Sault Ste. Marie city councillors approved a subsequent offer to Prince on March 18, 2019.

"Prince Township declined to approve and execute the contract and sought changes to the wording of the agreement, mostly centred around liability concerns," Sault Ste. Marie CAO Malcolm White recalls.

After a further year of haggling, Sault councillors finally signed off last week on a deal previously approved by their Prince counterparts in late March.

City police will now do regular patrols of the township, providing a level of service comparable to that received by residents of rural parts of the Sault, particularly north of Base Line and east of Airport Road.

Enforcement of township bylaws is specifically excluded from the city's reponsibilities.

Prince will pay the city $175,000 for the first year of the agreement, in monthly instalments of $16,479.

After the first year, the township's payment will increase annually, corresponding to Ontario's consumer price index (CPI).

Special duty officers needed for events in Prince Township will be provided, but at a cost over and above the new contract.

The City of Sault Ste. Marie and Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board will be liable for any damages resulting from intentional or negligent acts or omissions.

Ward 5 Coun. Matthew Scott voted against the deal, arguing that some residents of Prince live in places that are easier for police vehicles to reach than certain parts of his own city ward, so why should they pay less?

Sault Mayor Christian Provenzano argued that adding Prince to the city police coverage area will cost less than the $175,000 the city will get in a year.

"I don't see how our taxpayers are treated unfairly. If we don't provide those services and get that $175,000, that $175,000 will show up on the levy," the mayor said.

"We're all trying our best to keep our own taxes down. And one of the ways to keep our own taxes down is to try to find non-tax-based revenue."

Provenzano conceded one point – a single major crime in Prince Township would throw off his projected savings.

"There is a risk of that, If there's a major crime out in Prince, then we would have to dedicate the resources for that major crime."

Police Chief Hugh Stevenson added: "When we look at the calls for service... we're looking at maybe seven occurrences on average for the past two years each month, with a total of between 78 and 80 total calls for service for the entire year."

"From a labour perspective and from a work perspective, Prince does not cause us any staffing issues, any additional workload," the police chief said.

Ward 4 Coun. Rick Niro used to argue that Prince ratepayers should pay the same for police protection as city ratepayers do.

But he's changed,

"I've since dropped away from that because I understand where the police chief is coming from," he said.

But Niro expressed concern that Prince's police expenditures have seen no consumer price index hikes in recent months.

"If we have an agreement based on a CPI, if our costs for police services go up every year and that CPI doesn't go up every year, then I don't think we're keeping up with what we should be charging for police services."

In his closing remarks, Mayor Provenzano said Sault Ste. Marie also needs to cultivate good relationships with its neighbours.

"I think it's the right thing to do, also from a relationship perspective. Prince is our neighbour. We have a good relationship with them. We've historically provided service to them," the mayor said.

Prince's new policing contract wasn't approved by the city until last week, but it came into effect on March 22.

It will remain in effect until March 31, 2025, unless either party gives 90 days notice of termination.