Staff
In response to an article in last week’s Times, the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board said uploaded savings have been used to offset budget increases for other programs since they first began in 2008.
In a press release to the Times, DSSAB administration said they have analyzed information the town received from the Ministry of Finance (which was partially printed in last week’s edition) and do not dispute it.
“The ministry indicates the estimated total benefit of 2011 provincial uploads for the Town of Fort Frances to be $420,400, which we do not dispute,” the release said.
“Contrary to [Coun. Ken] Perry’s statements in the article in the March 30, 2011 edition of the Fort Frances Times, the RRDSSAB has not ‘turned a blind eye’ to ‘all the verifiable facts,’ and we concur with the figures from the Minister of Finance.
“We have taken a ‘good look’ at this and have not gone astray, or lead the board astray, nor has the board led us astray,” it stressed.
“Not reflected in the provincial numbers is, since 2008, the RRDSSAB members had, by board resolution, utilized amounts from these upload savings to offset budget increases for other programs in 2008 and 2009 to lessen any increase in municipal levies,” the release added.
“This, in turn, decreased the actual amount of the municipal upload savings for those respective years.
“As a result, there is a difference in the figures provided by the province and the amounts levied to municipalities by the RRDSSAB as the province is not notified of local RRDSSAB decisions on utilization of savings.”
The local DSSAB said it is committed to working with both the province and the municipalities on this issue “as it appears further discussions are required as to how this information applies to the RRDSSAB budget.”
Meetings with the province and the municipalities are taking place to review this issue, they noted.
All information has always been, and will continue to be, available to the DSSAB board members for review and further discussion.
