(Today’s Northumberland file photo)
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Since encampments began in Cobourg last August, the taxpayers have had to fork out an extra $160,000-plus in policing costs.
That information came in a report presented Wednesday at council’s Community Services, Protection and Economic Development Committee meeting.
The amount breaks down to 1,186 extra hours of policing in 2023 valued at $60,912.96 and 1,570 extra hours between January and June 2024 valued at $81,451.60. Both amounts are exclusive of benefits and pensions.
The report from Chief Paul VandeGraaf noted that these costs do not include the investigation of a attempted murder case at the first encampment, which was set up on Cobourg’s west beach.
Once evicted, the encampment moved to a grassy area at the Northumberland County building on William Street.
Once they were evicted from there, they settled on provincial land at the vacated Brookside Youth Centre facility on King Street West. The land was owned by the province, which declined to authorize the eviction of the encampment members, so they have remained there since.
Mayor Lucas Cleveland referred to a similar report made to county council, and the positive reception he had received when he approached them for help with these costs, though he continued to decry the county’s inaction in dealing with the Brookside encampment.
“It’s a new time, a new era, and things have got to change – they are going to break the municipalities,” committee member Adam Bureau agreed.
“If we were a single-tier government, we wouldn’t have to worry about that,” Cleveland replied, referring to his call (earlier in the meeting) for the town to consider seceding from the county’s upper-tier umbrella to be come a stand-alone municipality.
