2022 DTSSAB Budget Approved
/The District of Timiskaming Social Services Administration Board (DTSSAB) passed its 2022 budget at its meeting on February 16, 2022. Board Chair Derek Mundle stated “in 2022, as in every year, the DTSSAB is cognizant of the impact of our budget on our municipal partners. The Pandemic continues to impact municipalities and we worked diligently on maximizing the financial contributions from the senior levels of government to minimize the impact on the municipal budget.”
The overall 2022 DTSSAB budget is $39,087,424 which is a 10.69% increase over 2021. The budget funds the following four programs in the district: Ontario Works ($11,803,507), Children Services ($10,312,427), Housing Services ($7,279,902) and Emergency Medical Services ($9,651,488). The increase in the overall budget is due to one-time Provincial funding provided to our Emergency Medical Services and Children’s Services Programs, an increase in our Homeless Prevention funding and a projected increase to our Ontario Works Caseload resulting in approximately $3,400,000 increase to the overall budget. Increases in our Housing Services and Emergency Medical Services programs have resulted in an increase to the municipal apportionment of 2.97% ($199,149). This year the Board chose to remove funds from our working fund reserve in the amount of $200,000 to reduce the billing impact to municipalities and the unincorporated townships.
“The 2022 budget is a good budget for our municipal partners. The DTSSAB delivers these services on behalf of the district municipalities, and we strive to ensure that our operational costs do not exceed the expectations of the municipalities. This year we were able to deliver a 2.62% increase despite much higher increases to costs to operate our programs and especially with increased costs due to the pandemic.” commented Chair Derek Mundle
The municipal share of the overall budget is $6,902,043 (17.7%), the Territories Without Municipal Representation (TWOMO) contributes $1,830,911 (4.7%), federal/provincial share is $30,075,170 (76.9%) and contributions from reserves of $279,300 (0.7%) comprise our revenue sources.
“Over the years the Board has kept the municipal apportionment as close to 0% as possible despite increases in salary and benefits and operating costs such as hydro and fuel, by using contributions of our reserves. Since 2008 we have used $2,324,100 from our working fund reserves.” noted Mr. Mundle. The Board, which consists of seven appointed municipal representatives and two elected representatives from the territories without municipal representation, bring the viewpoint of the local taxpayer and their municipality to the table and ensures that the budget is fair and responsible in delivering the services that the DTSSAB has been mandated to deliver. Our focus is always maintaining or increasing our services without having a negative impact on our municipalities.
For further information on the budget, please contact Kelly Black at 705-567-9366 ext. 3253 or 705-568-7791.