Some of that revenue is earmarked for the counties in return for administering Provincial Offenses.
But the $8 million will likely have to be written off, Grey County Clerk Sharon Vokes told council members. That’s because there are few ways to enforce the fines. Many of the fines are for speeding and liquor offences, and some of the offenders live outside the area.
“The honest person goes in and pays. Sometimes we have others who don’t that means we have to follow up and find (the person),” Vokes said.
A collections agent is making some headway in Grey County, but Vokes said political change is what’s needed.
“A parking ticket – if you don’t pay that automatically you don’t get your licence sticker renewed. Others don’t have the same repercussion and that’s what we need to work on,” she said.
That means municipalities responsible for administering Provincial Offenses Act courts have to push for legislation that allows them to enforce convictions and fines. Legislation to require payment of the oldest fine first is a priority, Vokes said.
“Now we are starting to get some political support from municipal politicians who will now be lobbying provincial politicians to make that change. It’s just such a critical piece of this is having the political support,” Vokes said.
In the meantime Grey County has developed an innovative way of handling Provincial Offenses Act paperwork, and is winning awards for its effort.
The Provincial Offenses Dashboard is a secure Web-based system that transforms what was an outdated program and mountain of files into a secure Web-based that is user friendly, said manager Marg Graham.
“We’ve streamlined it for the police services as far as getting trial notices and following up on them, we’ve streamlined it inside the courtroom, which is a benefit to the defendant, and we’ve certainly streamlined it for administration as well,” Graham said.
Last year Grey and Bruce Counties handled over 23,000 tickets for traffic and liquor offences, and set 172 court dates to hear almost 5,500 cases.
“We took over Provincial Offenses from the province in 2001 and we grew into it gradually,” Graham said. “But it’s also grown. Our volume has grown, so we had to find more efficient ways to do things with the staffing we had.”
Grey County’s Provincial Offences Dashboard earned an award from the Clerks and Treasurers Association in June, and will receive a second award at this week’s AMO conference. The system is gaining interest from other jurisdictions.
Budget pressure
A $92 billion First Nations land claim is one of the budget pressures facing Bruce County.
Council went behind closed doors with its lawyer last week to discuss the long-standing land claim, but the county auditor says there’s no indication yet when that claim could be settled.
Land claims aren’t the only budget contingency facing the county. There’s also negotiation with the Ontario Nurses Association, which has members staffing Bruce County’s long term care homes in Walkerton and Wiarton. Their contract expired in March 2008.
Bruce County is also battling over cross-border billing for ambulance calls. That dispute involves $750,000.
Still, the 2009 audit shows the county is in good financial shape with healthy reserve funds and budget surpluses.
But a look back over the trends shows that spending pressures are changing, said auditor Steve Lowe of BDO.
Before restructuring and downloading, the highways department had the lion’s share of the budget and drove spending for the county.
Now services like public housing, long term care homes, ambulance and social programs add up to be the county’s biggest expenses.
Still, Lowe gives Bruce County high marks for managing the transition. The county is in a strong financial position with good reserve funds and manageable long term debt, he said.
Reviewing the audit figures, Lowe told councillors that a $4.8 million surplus is not what it seems.
That figure includes a value for buildings and equipment along with the traditional cash surplus.
It’s a change in accounting methods that gives a big-picture look at the county’s financial position.
“I think it gives a better overall perspective on the county’s financial position because it does take into account capital assets, but for municipal tax rates it still comes down to the municipal budget,” Lowe said.
“(But) for financial reporting purposes the surplus includes capital assets, which is not completely relevant when it comes to setting tax rates, because that’s not cash.”
Bruce County’s actual cash surplus for 2009 was $1.3 million. Some of that went to decrease taxes for this year.
