County seeks to counter spread of false information Aug 30th
By David Chawner
Lac Ste. Anne County’s recent advertisement “Straight Talk About County Finances” in which they allege that “misleading information about County finances has been spread” shows the County’s 2016 long-term debt as being $1.370,470. Under the Municipal Govt. Act (M.G.A.), municipalities are required to provide Municipal Affairs Dept. with audited financial statements which the Dept. then posts on their website (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B69V6QH-ValArZDc3SnVMYTZmSjA/view).
If you go there you will find that the AUDITED amount of L.S.A.C. long-term debt is shown as $3,751,107 – a slight difference of almost $2.5 million!! All of the figures quoted in their ‘comparison chart’ for other municipalities are exactly the same as shown on that website – so maybe they would care to explain the discrepancy.
While they are trying to brag about the low level of long-term debt, anyone who has lived in the County for more than a year will know that that is because WE petitioned and stopped them borrowing long-term for the “Taj Mahal”. As a result they have resorted to massive short-term borrowing.
If they want “straight talk” and correct information out there they should list ALL of the debt that we, as ratepayers, are liable for thanks to their ‘responsible stewardship’.
At the very least I figure we still owe:
$5 million for the “Taj Mahal” (approx)
$2.5 for the L.S.A. Foundation (Seniors residence)
$300,000 for construction of the water station next to Timber Mart
$1.9 million for upgrades to Twp Rd. 544
Does that sounds to you as if we only owe $1.3 million (as per their comparison)?
I can’t imagine what made them think the ratepayers of this County wouldn’t see through their ‘misinformation’.
They are right in one aspect however, there is a lot of misinformation being circulated! If you want to know just how indebted we really are …. go to L.S.A.R.A.’s Facebook page – they’re not trying to create a false impression!
David Chawner
(Sturgeon Heights)
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