Duane Hicks
A recent review of past licensing practices at the Civic Centre has revealed that, in some cases, requisite reporting by charities has not been completed, Fort Frances Clerk Glenn Treftlin said in a report received by town council Monday night.
Additionally, “it was obvious that some charities were not aware of the terms and conditions they were obligated to follow while conducting the lottery event for which they were licensed, although they were required to sign a declaration stating that they had read and agreed to comply with those terms and conditions,” he added.
As such, Treftlin is working on organizing a session to train charities to understand their obligations, as well as focus on how to properly manage the lottery financial records and prepare and file their reports.
Treftlin’s report, meant to fully explain municipal lottery licensing to mayor and council, was completed as a directive of the 2010-13 strategic plan, he noted in an interview yesterday.
Treftlin said lottery licensing by municipalities dates back to 1970 when the province passed an Order-in-Council to give municipalities the authority to let charities conduct bingos, raffles, and raffles at bazaars to raise funds for their respective causes.
The provincial Alcohol and Gaming Commission developed the terms and conditions for different types of lotteries and generally oversees compliance by charities, he explained.
But municipalities issuing lottery licences are responsible for ensuring compliance by the specific organizations to which they grant licences.
Licensing officials follow a manual provided by the commission, which lays out the guidelines to be used.
Treftlin noted that when he first was appointed as town clerk and lottery licensing officer in 1988, local charities were being licensed for regular and monster bingos, raffles (including break-open tickets), and bazaars.
At that time, the administrative processing of all lottery licences was performed by the receptionist/licensing clerk at the information desk at the Civic Centre.
Treftlin, as town clerk/lottery licensing officer, would sign completed licenses and participate in the processing of an application if circumstances called for it.
Over the years, however, the lottery licensing requests here have changed. While bingos once were very popular at the former K of C Hall on Scott Street, they diminished after the hall owner moved them to a new hall in the west end of town.
The number of bingo licences issued by the town dropped immediately, and this had “a significant impact on the amount of licensing revenues generated by lottery licences issued by the town,” explained Treftlin.
The fee a municipality can charge for a lottery licence is limited by the province to a maximum of three percent of the licensed prize value for bingos and raffles (for bazaars the fee is $5).
A municipality is authorized to license raffles to a maximum prize value of $50,000 and bingo for a maximum prize value of $5,500.
In recent years, staffing at the Civic Centre has declined and “managing of certain responsibilities has been shifted, markedly so in the processing of lottery license applications and follow-up on the required reporting.”
“These functions have been brought almost completely into the town clerk’s area,” Treftlin wrote in his report.
For most of 2011, applications for lottery licences were received at the front desk at the Civic Centre and forwarded directly to the clerk’s office.
Similarly, the requisite reports by the licensed organizations have been directed to the clerk’s office. If a report was outstanding, the follow-up was done through the clerk’s office.
This, in turn, has caused a significant slowing of the review and approval process for lottery licences, said Treftlin.
“This has put a lot more work on my desk and there’s only so many hours in the day,” he remarked, adding lottery licensing is not his only duty.
In order to assist the charities to understand their obligations as a licensee for a lottery, Treftlin arranged for the Alcohol and Gaming Commission to hold a training session here this past summer for representatives of charities that currently are being licensed or were considering applying for a license.
This session was well-attended, noted Treftlin, but there are some charities he hoped would attend that did not.
As mentioned above, Treftlin is looking to hold a training session for charities to instruct them on how to properly manage the lottery financial records and how to file a report.
More details will be forthcoming in the near future, he added.
Anyone with any questions on lottery licensing can contact Treftlin at 274-5323 or via e-mail at gtreftlin@fort-frances.com
