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Home My WebLink AboutCS 14/01 -- REPORT TO COUNCIL FROM: Gillis A. Paterson Director, Corporate Services & Treasurer DATE: MayS, 2001 REPORT NUMBER: CS 14-01 SUBJECT: Extension of 2000 Financial Information Retum/Municipal Performance Measurement Program Filing Deadline RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that Report CS 14-01 of the Director, Corporate Services & Treasurer be received by Council for information. ORIGIN: Director, Corporate Services & Treasurer - AUTHORITY: Municipal Act, R.S.O. 1990, as amended FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Not applicable EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Not applicable BACKGROUND: Each year the Financial Statements and Financial Information Return for the immediately preceding year must be completed and audited to allow the City to file the Financial Information Return with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs by Apri130. - In previous years the filing deadline for the Financial Information Return to the Ministry has been met, albeit sometimes requiring a great deal of extra effort and overtime. The production of the Financial Statements and the Financial Information Return for the year ended December 31, 2000 was especially challenging as we were faced with implementing two new Provincial reporting requirements: Report to Council CS 14-01 Date: May 8, 2000 - Subject: Extension of2000 Financial Information RetumlMunicipal Performance Measurement Program Filing Deadline Page 2 1. the recommendation of the Public Sector Accounting and Auditing Board ofthe Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants whereby new financial reporting standards, mainly involving unfunded liabilities, have to be implemented for the 2000 Financial Statements; and, 2. the implementation of the Provincially imposed Municipal Performance Measurement Program in the Financial Information Return which also incorporates the changes under Item 1 above. While the former item was less problematic for Pickering, primarily due to the nature of the City's functions. The Performance Measurement component is more of a problem, primarily as a result of the absence of definitions and clarification from the Province which affected all municipalities in Ontario. We were concerned enough regarding our ability to meet with April 30 deadline that on April 12, 2001 I wrote the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, copy attached, advising them of our situation. I was also aware that a number of other municipalities in Ontario were in a similar situation. On April 20, 2001 the Assistant Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs wrote all municipal Treasurers and Auditors in Ontario advising that the deadline was being extended to June 30, 2001, copy attached. He also indicated that the previously announced deadline of June 30, 2001 for reporting Performance Measurements to the public was being delayed, with details to follow. - Of particular concern will be the footnotes to accompany the Performance Measurement Reporting - both in magnitude and complexity. All of the foregoing problems have previously been discussed with senior staff of the Ministry. Staff will continue to work on the reporting requirements and will provide the results and any updates to this information as it becomes available. ATTACHMENTS: 1. Letter to Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housingdated April 12, 2001 2. Letter from Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing dated April. 20, 2001 Prepared / Approved / Endorsed By: ~~-~~ Gillis A. Paterson, Director, Corporate Services & Treasurer GP:vw Attachments - Recommended for the consideration of Pickering City Council Thomas J. uinn, Chief Administrative Officer ATTACHMENT;q: ,~"~ TO REPORT # CS l'f-ol Pickering Civic Complex One The Esplanade Pickering, Ontario Canada Ll V 6K7 Direct Access (905) 420-4660 cityofpickering.com ClUj o~ CORPORATE SERVICES DEPARTMENT Department (905) 420-4634 Facsimile (905) 420-5313 corpserv@city.pickering.on.ca April 12,2001 Ms. Nancy Bardecki, Director Municipal Finance Branch Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing 777 Bay Street, 13th Floor Toronto, Ontario M5G 2E5 Dear Ms. Bardecki: .~ This is to advise that the Financial Statements and the Financial Information Return for the Year Ended December 31,2000 for the City of Pickering are currently anticipated to be filed by May 31,2001. While we have met the April 30 deadline in the past years we find that this year will be delayed due to a combination of competing demands upon staff time. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you wish to discuss any aspect of this matter. Yours truly, '-~? --C~'>~ G.A. Paterson, Director, Corporate Services & Treasurer GAP/vw Copy: TJ. Quinn, Chief Administrative Officer - ATTACHMENT #"~ TO REPORT#~ 'f~ Of Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Ministere des Affaires munlclpales et du Logement @ Ontario Municipal Treasurers and Municipal Auditors: Policy Division 13th Floor, 777 Bay Street ~eceDVe. 0 Toronto, ON M5G 2E5 Y OF PICKER/N' Tel: (416) 585-6320 AP.R ..2 3 II ~F' (41.6) 585-6463 COI:l. 2001 ~ @ I'ORArE SERVICES lip/? '/f!1J!b ~lJ).' C/?y 2 .:f ~ <<;;rJ P/~.,o1:' A '{){Jl f €'1y'NQ ~1f12 '",j . 'IV'I''''''Y1//IJG April 20, 2001 - As you are aware, the Financial Information Retum (FIR) has been updated for the year 2000. This year has been one of great transition and, as one could expect, there have been some difficulties with the new eFIR Application. In order to support the technological transition of the FIR being completed online, the Ministry has decided to extend the 2000 FIR deadline to June 30, 2001. This will allow municipalities more time to adapt to the new eFIR Application. Since the schedules required for the new Municipal Performance Measurement Program (MPMP) form part of the 2000 FIR, this deadline of June 30, 2001 will also apply to the submission of data for the MPMP. The requirement to report to the Minister for MPMP is to be amended accordingly, Municipal reporting of the results of the MPMP to the public will therefore also be delayed. The Ministry will follow with further details shortly. The MPMP Schedules will be live on the eFIR website as of April 25, 2001. Please keep in mind that portions of the eFIR must be completed prior to using the MPMP Schedules in order to ensure that carry forward values within these schedules appear. The eFIR is a Web-based application which requires dealing with the complexities of a number of inter-related variables, including; operating systems, internet browsers, dial up through telephone lines, network connections, and multiple versions of software. The integration of these different technology environments are the root cause of many of the problems experienced to date and have made the implementation of the eFIR more difficult than a standard software developed project. - The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has recognized these issues and is working to resolve them An Oracle software patch has recently been installed to correct a security problem involving Port 3002 and external experts from Oracle are currently being consulted to examine problems with connectIvity. One of the deliverables from the Oracle consultant will be a "Trouble Shooting" guideline for those u3ero that are ~till unable to connect. A new e-mail address h~s been added to the - -2- eFIR. homepage which is to be used to report problems with connectivity. In addition, the eFIR homepage has been enhanced to improve readability for those using Netscape as their browser. Please continue to check the Technical Bulletin and Hours of Availability on the eFIR website for the most current information. Another letter will be sent shortly addressing PSAB issues that have been raised. If you have any questions. please contact Debbie Chen-Yin at (416) 585-6299. Yours truly, ~ / ~v~/{}/'l'LoA"'---1.-"1---''" / et Mason / sistant Deputy Minister cc; C.AO's - -