THUNDER BAY -- The approved District Social Services Administrative Board budget is a three per cent decrease from 2012.
The municipal portion of the DSSAB budget came in at $24.4 million on Thursday. The three per cent decrease means roughly $870,000 in savings from the previous year.
The main reasons for the reduction from last year’s budget were twofold -- DSSAB’s caseload decreased by fewer than 200 and the province starting taking on more costs involving Ontario Works.
Bob Katajamaki, chair of the Thunder Bay DSSAB, said there’s a three per cent reduction in the levy to all the municipalities and added he change in employee benefits reduced the budget even more.
DSSAB's acting CAO Bill Bradica said they’ve been seeing a decrease in clients for a few years now.
Since the new facility opened in September, which now houses Ontario Works, Children’s Services and Social Housing, Bradica said the cost to run the building has decreased by $200,000 since all three services came under one roof.
But Bradica said he expects to see additional savings further down the line.
“Once the loan that was used to finance part of the construction is paid off in 20 years, there would be at that time a significant reduction in the cost of operating the building -- close to $300,000 in additional savings,” he said.
“It will be quite a bit less to operate the building in 20 years.”
At-Large Coun. Aldo Ruberto is also pleased with the reduction and said he believes when the budget comes to council that it will be passed without much hesitation. He pointed out that less clients is a good thing because it means fewer people are turning to DSSAB for help.
It’s a sign that things are looking up in Thunder Bay, he said.
“Most of the boards I am on and the boards that I see, most of them are being very fiscally responsible,” Ruberto said.
“They’re trying to do the best job they can but unfortunately legislation gets in the way. It gets change and all of a sudden, you are mandated to do certain things. In fighting for the rights of the minority, the majority has to give up their rights. It’s frustrating sometimes.”
DSSAB’s budget as well as the Thunder Bay Police Services Board budget will both be coming before council in the coming weeks. The police budget passed at $35 million, which is an increase of 3.8 per cent from last year.
Ruberto said the police have to deal with legal battles as well as time-consuming investigations and both of those contributed to the increased costs.
“As a result of these investigations, we’ve dealt a blow to organized crime and we’ve got powerful figures off the streets,” he said.
“That’s money well invested. It’s not like they are spending it on stupid things. They are fighting crime or fighting lawyers.”
