Melancthon has joined with Amaranth in calling for an efficiency study into "to verify overhead costs and provide recommendations for efficiency and cost saving measures" at the Provincial Offences Act (POA) offices.

As he moved to support the July 15 Amaranth motion for the efficiency study, Melancthon Councillor John Crowe observed that revenue from POA cases "is steadily down."

The Amaranth motion, by Deputy Mayor Walter Kolodziechuk and Councillor Jane Aultman, arose from a June 19 meeting of the POA board.

According to information from the June meeting, POA fines for Dufferin decreased by $200,000 between 2004 and 2008.

The Town of Caledon administers the POA courts for both Caledon and Dufferin. According to Councillor Crowe's report to the council, the Town takes 45 per cent of the fines for its services.

Caledon has its own POA court facilities in Caledon East, while Dufferin has the facilities for offences committed within the county. County council will be reviewing a $6.2-million proposal that includes new POA court facilities.

Meantime, starting tomorrow (Friday) at least some of the local POA cases are to be tried at the Orangeville town hall.

The Dufferin County courthouse tries all Dufferin County criminal cases and other ones from Caledon at the Ontario Court level. It also houses the local Superior Court for both criminal and civil