Auditor General of Ontario slams government misspending

Taxpayers aren’t getting the best bang for their buck, according to the latest report from the Auditor General of Ontario.

In his report, Auditor General Jim McCarter said, “The government and its employees—from the top leadership to those on the front lines delivering services to the public—must spend taxpayer money like it was their own.”

Now that we’re in a major recession, McCarter also said lower revenues means the government is going to have to prioritize its spending.

“The government needs to do a better job of monitoring how it spends taxpayers’ money and how it collects it,” he said.

For example, suppliers of assistive devices to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care are charging prices often yielding a 100 per cent rate of return.

Under the Ontario Disability Support Program, overpayments have increased 37 per cent to $663 million dollars, Ontario works overpayments increased 45 per cent to $600 million.

The Auditor General noted that “on average, disability recipients experienced a 58-day delay after they had been determined to be medically qualified for payments, which is almost three times longer than the outside limit of 21 days established by the Ministry.”

As of December 31, 2008, the unfunded liability of the Workers Safety and Insurance Board was $11.4 billion dollars.

Municipalities are responsible for inspecting and maintaining 12,000 bridges in Ontario. “To conduct the required close-up inspec­tions, lane closures are sometimes necessary,” said the Auditor General. “How­ever, there have been no requests for lane closures whatsoever for the last three years in the Greater Toronto Area.”

Even though the average age of social housing in Ontario is 40 years, the government has no information on the actual condition of the buildings.

To view the complete report online click here. [2]

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