Bylaw breakers in Oro-Medonte will soon discover there’s a significant price to pay for their transgressions.
On Wednesday, township council is expected to pass the draft version of the bylaw to implement an administrative monetary penalty system (AMPS).
Once passed, the municipality expects to have the program fully operational sometime in the first quarter of 2025.
“AMPS will provide an efficient and effective method for dealing with non-compliance related to township bylaws and enforcement,” Curtis Shelswell, manager of municipal bylaw enforcement, said in his report to council on Nov. 27. “AMPS is essentially another enforcement tool for the township to utilize when enforcing bylaw contraventions.”
According to Shelswell’s report, AMPS programs have been implemented across the province due to the ability to provide a more responsive local approach to enforcement of municipal bylaws.
Additionally, he said, it’s a more effective and efficient way of addressing monetary penalties.
“AMPS will provide a local hearing system to resolve non-compliance matters within more reasonable timeframes in comparison to Provincial Offences system that is currently being utilized,” Shelswell wrote.
Presently, the township retains the City of Barrie for most Provincial Offences Act (POA) prosecutions. The cost for the service differs year to year, depending on the volume of offences. The current fee is $136.90 per hour and includes court brief review and prosecutions.
“There are potential legal savings, and possibly even increased penalty amounts, associated with the AMPS program, but these will depend entirely on the number of penalties and information/summons issued and appeals received, which are difficult to predict,” Shelswell wrote.
“That said, the potential exists for considerable savings in legal fees, which should be balanced with additional in-house function of the screening officer and retaining a hearing officer," he added.
According to Shelswell’s report, the township will need to address those two key roles.
“The AMPS program requires that the draft bylaw designate staff members as screening officers to review notices that are being contested,” he wrote in his report.
The screening officer will review penalty notices to ensure accuracy and would be required to consider three options:
- Withdraw the matter/fee
- Reduce the fee associated with the matter
- Uphold the matter and associated fee.
Shelswell’s report recommended a number of current township staff be considered for appointment as screening officers.
“Pending volume, this may need to be re-examined,” he noted.
The township will also have to engage a hearing officer who is required to consider matters/offences that are appealed.
As noted in the bylaw, a person who receives a penalty would have up to 30 days to appeal a screening officer’s decision to the hearing officer, an external resource who would be hired by the township to hear any matters.
“The hearing officer would make the final decision on the matter, which could be quashed, reduced or remain as levied,” Shelswell said.
This process would require the resident and officer(s) involved to be present to provide details on the events that took place at hearings.
All current regulatory bylaws, with the exception of parking and traffic, will be covered by the new AMPS bylaw.
Each bylaw will have designated short-form wording and penalties. The bylaw lays out procedures for staff when issuing penalty notices that are issued for contravention of certain bylaws.
The notice includes a fee that is required to be paid within a set timeframe.
Individuals that receive a notice have the option of appealing it to a screening officer, or making payment. Failure to choose an option deems it final and will result in the associated fees being added to the taxes and collected in a similar manner.
According to Shelswell’s report, the penalty notice includes a fee levied for non-compliance of a specific section of a bylaw. The fee structure would be tiered so that fees escalate for repeated infractions of the same bylaw.
The fines do not have a standard starting point; each bylaw is virtually unique.
For example, under the election-sign bylaw, breaking any of the 26 specific rules would cost a first-time offender $100. A second violation would result in a $200 fine. Any subsequent violations would cost the violator $600 for each breach.
Under the fireworks bylaw, the first instance of discharging fireworks on municipal property without consent would result in a $500 penalty. A second instance would draw a $1,000 penalty and any violation beyond that would result in a $2,000 penalty, per occurrence.
If you create, cause or permit persistent noise, you could be fined $200 for the first offence, $400 for the second and $1,200 for each and every subsequent offence.
The largest fines are reserved for the most egregious violations.
Under the township’s site alteration bylaw, a person found to place or dump fill not compliant with the standards set out in the bylaw would face a $2,000 penalty on first offence, $4,000 for a second offence and $12,000 for every offence thereafter.
The bylaw will also establish fees for non-appearance of a scheduled hearing, Ministry of Transportation search fee, late payment fee, plate denial fee and non-sufficient funds fee.
