A joint Owen Sound – Georgian Bluffs committee will meet November 15th to discuss the sharing of services, as a way of reducing costs.
One item on the table is police coverage.
Georgian Bluffs Mayor Alan Barfoot says discussions have been held periodically over the last 18 months — but fine details need to be worked out before his council can entertain the idea of Owen Sound police covering the township.
Barfoot says a lot of questions remain, including whether city police would cover all of the township or just the portion immediately next to Owen Sound.
Right now, Georgian Bluffs is spending 1.06 million dollars on OPP policing, which is about 22 percent of the property tax rate.
In Owen Sound, policing works out of 268 dollars for each property taxpayer .
Several candidates for council have been calling for an expansion of service as a way of cutting costs for both municipalities.
Mayor Barfoot says even if Georgian Bluffs were to decide to go with city policing, it would be more than a year away since they are under contract until 2013.
