Town Of Goderich Asks County To Help With Costs Of Security And Transportation At Courthouse
by Bob Montgomery
Goderich Mayor Trevor Bazinet presented the town's position at this week's county council meeting and essentially stated that it wasn't reasonable for the town to have to cover all of the costs for security and transportation at the courthouse just because the building is located in Goderich.
At this time, the town is billed for a significant amount of the cost for security and prisoner transportation at the county courthouse. He says they do receive some money from the provincial government but that doesn't cover the total cost so every year Goderich taxpayers are left to cover the shortfall. For 2024 that's just over $142,000 and that will only go up in the next few years as the county increases security at the courthouse. They're going to have more officers stationed at the front door of the courthouse scanning people and they plan to only have one entry point to the courthouse
Bazinet says Owen Sound was experiencing the same situation with Grey County and the Mayor of Owen Sound brought that to the attention of Grey County council a few months ago. Grey County council agreed that Owen Sound shouldn't be carrying the load alone and agreed to cover the shortfall that Owen Sound is faced with. Bazinet thought it was a great model for Goderich to follow and reached out to Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy for more information and presented Huron County council with a similar model this week.
Bazinet has asked county staff to bring a report back to council outlining what the county could do to offset the shortfall the town is facing. He expects that report will come back to council at its December 4th meeting. He has suggested one of the options he would like to see in that report would involve the county covering the shortfall with revenue it gets from the Provincial Offences Fines. He expects staff will have a few other options but the ultimate goal for the town is to come up with a plan that doesn't see the town of Goderich cover one hundred per cent of the costs for security and prisoner transportation.
