The cost of the planned Walkerton Jail closure continues to add up.
Councillor Chris Peabody says the Walkerton jail closure will cost Brockton 179 thousand dollars in extra prisoner transportation and related security costs a year.
Peabody based the figures on last year’s weekend arrest numbers.
He says it will cost 44 and a half thousand dollars to cover weekend prisoner transportation costs and another 134-thousand-400 dollars to cover the court security costs associated with it.
This equates to a 3.3 percent increase on the tax bill.
But it won’t be just Brockton that suffers.
Peabody says all municipalities in the region will be forced to bear the brunt of weekend prisoner transportation costs.
He estimates this will work out to be at least a 1 percent tax hike for each municipalities.
By law OPP can not hold prisoners for more than 24 hours, which means offenders arrested on weekends will have to be transported to Penetang, 330 km or 7 hours away.
Meanwhile Brockton has filed a freedom of information request to obtain any background reports or studies used to justify the closure of the Walkerton Jail.
Peabody says Brockton was forced to take this drastic measure after the province repeatedly failed to come forth with the information despite multiple requests.
