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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCD-54-96 THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON REPORT Meeting: General Purpose and Administration Committee File# r i t cr7� Date: November 4, 1996 Res. # By-Law# Report#:- GD_5 4_q_6 File#: Subject: PROVINCIAL TRANSFER OF PROVINCIAL OFFENCES COURT TO MUNICIPALITIES Recommendations: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: THAT Report CD-54-96 be received for information. On Friday 25 October 1996, the Senior Municipal Law Enforcement Officer attended a seminar presented by the Prosecutors' Association. The Association is comprised of lawyers, para-legals and municipal law enforcement officers whose duties include prosecution of by-law offences . For several months now the Province has been going through the process of downloading various responsibilities to municipalities . David Crombie has been chairing a Panel known as "WHO DOES WHAT?" The duties of the Panel include determining who will take over the various duties and responsibilities that the Province is withdrawing from. At the panel' s direction, a sub-committee was established to deal with certain matters involving the courts and court staff . The group was called the "POA Transfer Project Team" . The POA referred to in the title is the Provincial Offences Act . This Act governs the conduct and procedure for laying and processing charges under provincial statutes and municipal by-laws . The sub-committee studying this matter is composed of seven municipalities--the Region of Hamilton-Wentworth, the Region of Ottawa-Carleton, Metro Toronto, the City of Brampton, the Town of Milton and the City of St . Thomas . While the committee has stated that responsibility will transfer to the local municipality, the level of government has yet to be determined. oaPEA R E.LE 7 0 1 ­S PR ED RECY-DPAP, Report CD-54-96 - 2 - November 4 , 1996 Under the Municipal Act definition, a local municipality can be a township, village, town or city. The Committee has expanded on that definition to include a county or region. At present, the municipality provides only the prosecutor; the Justice of the Peace, all court staff and facilities are provided by the province . The proposed plan would see the province provide only the Justice of the Peace . All other personnel and facilities would be the responsibility of the local municipality. The province has set a firm deadline of April 1, 1997 for the transfer of responsibility. The transfer will deal with Part I matters only, at this time, ie, those matters which can be dealt with by means of a ticket with an out of court payment, such as our Hawker and Pedlar By-law or the Highway Traffic Act . Parking tickets are not included, nor are matters which would require a summons to court such as our Property Standards or Zoning By-laws . It would appear that there will be a transitional period where both the present and the proposed systems could be in force . Alternatively, municipalities could be pressured to do away with the majority of their summons offenses and implement straight fines . These options will be dealt with at a later date by the province . The province has stated that it believes there will be a net revenue increase to the municipalities . There were approximately 950, 000 tickets written last year in the province . With an average fine amount of $90 . 00 per ticket this equates to a revenue of $85, 500, 000 per year. Not all of this revenue would come to the municipalities . Part of it would remain with the province to cover the costs of the Justices of the Peace. This proposed model works for municipalities which have their own police forces, since provincial offence fines are presently returned to the province. In Clarington' s situation it is difficult to see the benefit to the municipality, since all fines from municipal by-law offenses are presently returned to the municipality. There would need to be some form of revenue sharing with the Region and fines resulting from charges laid by the Regional Police in order for the proposed system to produce a benefit for the municipality. The Committee will present its Business Plan on December 2 , 1996, with an implementation date set for April 1, 1997 . At that time all the provisions of Bill 25 governing Parking Offenses will be mandated rather than optional . 702 Report CD-54-96 - 3 - November 4 , 1996 Bill 25 was passed in 1993 and gave municipalities the opportunity to assume full responsibility for the administration of parking infractions and the collection of fines due . The system allowed a municipality to fully or partly opt in. The municipality chose at that time to partly opt in by taking over general administration and court scheduling for the parking tickets but leaving the fine collection with the province . The Committee has stated that its recommendations will be implemented. This is non-negotiable. The Attorney General has been ordered to cut the Department' s budget by $10, 000, 000 in 1997 and a further $14 , 000, 000 in 1998 . There were three implementation options discussed. 1 . The system could be established in fourteen court areas across the province . The basis for establishing these areas is presently unknown. 2 . A working test model could be initially set up in the seven municipalities which are currently involved in the Committee . 3 . There could be an "As Is" transfer. All the court staff would retain their current jobs and simply report to new bosses at the municipal level . This proposal is far from being a straight win-win situation. In order to properly administer the system, municipalities will need to upgrade their computer systems to allow us to directly tie into the three main computer systems, ie, ICON (Integrated Court Offenses Network) , FCC (Fine Collection Centre) , and the Ministry of Transportation records to access and update driver' s records for demerit points and suspensions where applicable. The municipality (whichever level is delegated the task) will become responsible for the salaries and benefits for the court staff as well as any rental and maintenance costs for the court facilities . Any paperwork may have to be supplied by the municipality rather than the province . A major concern for many members of the seminar was the fact that this is an unknown cost for municipalities to assume part way through their fiscal year, however, to date the province itself has been unable to provide firm cost estimates . 703 Report CD-54-96 - 4 - November 4 , 1996 In some instances Provincial Prosecutors and Crown Attorneys may continue to operate . For example, the Ministry of the Environment and Energy has its own staff of prosecutors for their technical matters . The Committee is also looking at giving local prosecutors the authority to prosecute matters which currently require a Crown Attorney such as the Fire Code . It was proposed that transitional training for local prosecutors would come from the Prosecutors' Association and any relevant case law would be provided by the Provincial Prosecutors' Association. Council will be updated in this area as more information becomes available . Respectfully submitted, Reviewed by P tti Ba ie, A.M. C.T. W. H. Stockwell ow C. le 5yz Chief Administrative Officer PLB/LC 704