Staff
Savings from the uploading of the Ontario Drug Benefit Program only will be partially returned to municipalities after the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board approved its 2011-12 budget last night.
This year, DSSAB saw its budget fall from $20,479,372 to $15,463,816—a reduction of $5,015,556, or 24.49 percent.
The majority of this reduction comes from the shifting of the Ontario Drug Benefit program to the province, with the remaining amount coming from cuts to general operating costs.
A total of $448,000 in savings for district municipalities was expected due to this uploading. But the budget approved last night saw just $229,141 of the estimated savings used by the board to offset increases in other programs.
Taking the uploading out of the picture, the increased costs would have result in an average 2.64 percent increase on the municipal levy.
When the uploading is factored in, municipalities overall will see a $219,097 decrease, or 4.64 percent, in the levy.
But under the new apportionment formula approved last year by the local DSSAB, the municipalities of Fort Frances, Lake of the Woods, La Vallee, and Morley actually would see an increase in their respective levy while other municipalities will see a decrease.
The exact levies for each municipality has yet to be determined or approved as apportionment of the budget is slated for April’s meeting.
While municipal reps managed to settle on a budget, many expressed dissatisfaction with how it either cut too much—or didn’t cut enough.
“We have to determine the balance between what
municipalities can afford and the service level,” argued DSSAB vice-chair Val Pizey, who is mayor of Lake of the Woods Township.
“Maybe we’re driving a Cadillac when we should be driving a Ford,” she remarked.
Mayor Pizey, along with Fort Frances Coun. Ken Perry and La Vallee Reeve Ross Donaldson, voted against the budget, and had wanted to find further cost-cutting measures.
“This isn’t just a one-way street for municipalities,” countered John Callan, representing the unorganized territories in Rainy River District Central.
“We’ve got people all over the district for ambulance service, housing—not every community has housing—but we’ve got a lot of clients,” he noted.
“We just can’t forget these people and just think about the municipal component.”
While further cost-savings possibly could be found throughout the organization, Callan said the board simply doesn’t have enough information at this point to make a decision on what should be cut.
With this in mind, board members agreed to begin a process of looking over DSSAB’s operations, including staffing and programs, to see where changes can be made to reduce costs in next year’s budget.
