LSAC ADMITS MISREPRESENTATION OF LONG TERM DEBT PUBLISHED IN A RECENT LAC STE. ANNE BULLETIN ARTICLE AND PUBLISHED ON THE LSAC WEB SITE
In the September 11, 2017 Mayerthorpe Freelancer article written by Joseph Quigley, "County admits misstep in debt report" LSAC Admitted that the County misrepresented the "Long Term Debt" in a comparison chart included in the Lac Ste. Anne Bulletin Article and published on the LSAC Web Site called “Straight Talk About County Finances”.
“The provision of accurate information is always the County's goal, as this is the best way to combat rumour, conspiracy theories and mistrust,” the LSAC Report said.
In the Article and Post that was created by LSAC, the County presented its long-term debt as being $1,370,470 in 2016 when in fact the County's long-term debt was set at $3,751,107, which was the "Long Term Debt" figure reported in the County's 2016 Audited Financial Statements and the "Long Term Debt" figure which was submitted to Alberta Municipal Affairs.
In LSARA's BLOG POST on August 27, 2017 "LSAC Now Wants to Straight Talk" in response to the LSAC's Report, LSARA provided links to the "2016 LSAC Financial Statement" and the "2015 LSAC Financial Statement" to show that in Fact the LSAC REPORT was INCORRECT!!
The "Debt per Resident" Column in the Reports Chart reflected an inaccurate, misleading and unrealistic assumption based on the inaccuracies of the Report.
Also not included in the report was any mention of the accumulated "Short Term Debt" or any mention of the Future Funding Allocations for the Administration Building, new West Fire Station or the 1.9 Million loan for a recent Road Project which would show what the true current "Debt per Resident" would be.
What we do need now is is a council that is willing to insist that the LSAC Administration provides the Ratepayers and Council with Open,Transparent and "Accurate Information" with "Actual Facts" and "NO FLUFF"!
Here is the link to the Mayerthorpe Freelancer's article as well as the article in it's entirety.
In response to rumours about the County's long-term debt position, the County released “Straight Talk About County Finances” on its website on Aug. 25. The posting sought to provide clarity on the County's long-term debt by comparing it to other regional counties.
“The provision of accurate information is always the County's goal, as this is the best way to combat rumour, conspiracy theories and mistrust,” the report said.
However, the report applied an inconsistent standard. The County presented its long-term debt as being $1,370,470 in 2016. But that figure removes $2,380,637, which represents a loan from the Lac Ste. Anne Foundation for seniors housing in the County. When included, the County's long-term debt is set at $3,751,107, which was the figure reported in the County's 2016 audited financial statements.
County administration said excluding $2,380,637 is because the Lac Ste. Anne Foundation, not the taxpayer, is on the hook for that money. But this exclusion is not mentioned in the report, nor were seniors housing loans subtracted from any of the other counties that Lac Ste. Anne compared itself to.
“I would certainly agree in hindsight that additional information on how these numbers were put together would be a good idea,” said Robert Osmond, Lac Ste. Anne County's chief financial officer and assistant county manager. “To my knowledge, the comparative debt numbers were not adjusted to remove the senior housing organization debt, and that is certainly an oversight in the preparation of these numbers we will not repeat.”
The report showed that in 2016, the County's long-term debt was set at $1,370,470 and had been decreasing over the past four years, despite a decrease in municipal taxes over the same time span. The debt position was shown to be lower than that of all of Lac Ste' Anne County's neighbours in 2016, including Yellowhead County ($2,775,010), Woodlands County ($13,481,051), Barrhead County ($4,931,038) and Parkland County ($19,435,300).
The inconsistency between the County's debt as presented in the report and the County's financial statements was initially reported by the Lac Ste. Anne Ratepayer's Association. The association is a non-profit citizen's advocacy group which seeks to inform residents about County decisions.
Christine Yeoman, the president for the association, said it is important to make all of the information available in the interests of transparency.
“The information that was put forward was they were going to be transparent. If you're going to paint a picture then you need to have all the colour,” Yeoman said.
She added that she protests the idea of removing the debt for the seniors housing loan in the first place.
“Even though it isn't a debt that county ratepayer pays up front for, the County is still on the hook for it. They're still the signatory on the loan,” Yeoman said.
Osmond said it is technically true that if the foundation could not pay the loan, the County would have to pay it as the guarantor. However, he added that situation is highly unlikely.
“The foundation is a government entity, created by the province and granted by legislation the ability to requisition tax funds. Essentially, they could simply requisition additional funds if required, making the idea of a bankruptcy situation, where the province refused to get involved, highly unlikely if not impossible,” Osmond said.
CALL ANY OR ALL COUNCILLORS TO DEMAND THE ANSWERS AND MAKE SURE THEY KNOW HOW YOU FEEL - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
- Phone: (780) 937-5360
- Phone: (780) 967-3073
- Phone: (780) 786-4290
- Phone: (780) 785-2095
PLEASE SHARE THIS POST
0 comments:
Post a Comment