Catholic school board takeover under fire for $900,000 price tag
June 17, 2011
Comments on this story
(13)
Kristin Rushowy
EDUCATION REPORTER
He says some of the almost million dollars spent by the province to run Toronto’s Catholic board is “an insult to taxpayers.”
She says it was worth every penny getting the troubled board’s finances in order.
The figures, obtained by Toronto Catholic board Trustee John Del Grande from the provincial government under a Freedom of Information request, said that, from a report on trustee spending abuses, to consultants, to auditors, to the cost of actual supervisors to run the board, the province racked up a $916,176.23 bill.
“That’s on top of the normal costs of running the school board,” as all staff and trustees continued to be paid as usual, Del Grande said.
But Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky said people shouldn’t forget what a mess the board was in.
“If you go back to 2006, the board had a deficit of $18 million, the next year $16 million and in 2008, $9 million. This is a board that couldn’t balance its books year over year over year,” she said.
“Those dollars are coming from taxpayers. We sent in a supervisor and now, as a result, the board has a balanced budget, the capital deficit has been eliminated and it has a new, more transparent budgeting process. The board now has policies that will no longer allow for the egregious spending (by trustees) — like $2,000 on a lamp.”
A scathing report from Norbert Hartmann in May 2008, who was shortly after appointed supervisor of the board, found trustees had hired relatives, double-dipped on restaurant bills, and approved unauthorized car allowances and health benefits. Del Grande voted against such perks, which board lawyers had warned were not allowed.
Some trustees had also expensed items like a sun lamp, personalized licence plate and other such items.
Trustee expenses at the Toronto Catholic board were among the highest in the province, Hartmann found, costing taxpayers $100,000 per trustee, compared with $67,000 in the much larger Toronto public board. New rules were put in place by the supervisors, as well as tightening up of expenses reporting.
But overall, Del Grande said it cost taxpayers — through reports and audits — some $290,000 “to find $29,000 in wrongful spending” among trustees — which was repaid. He called that cost “an insult to taxpayers.”
An angry Dombrowsky called that “one of the most irresponsible statements” she has heard. “If Mr. Del Grande thinks the only thing to come out of supervision is the saving of $29,000, in my view he’s totally missed the point.”
Among the costs:
• Hartmann’s report: $60,000 (40 days work)
• Investigator: $29,964.71 ($1,500/day for 22 days)
• Ernst & Young auditors: $229,880.61
• Supervisor Norbert Hartmann: $238,452.93 (15 months)
• Assistant supervisor Norm Forma: $ 122,127.98 (100.5 days)
• Replacement supervisor Richard Alway: $155,250.00 (16 months)
• Consultant Joan Green: $70,500.00 ($1,500/day for 47 days)
The Toronto Catholic board, one of five in the province to face takeover, was under supervision the longest. The province regained power at the beginning of this year, after the board balanced its books.
Del Grande has posted the original documents at http://www.johndelgrande.ca/download/FOI