Municipal Performance and Direction de la performance Accountability Branch et de la responsabilisation des municipalités 777 Bay Street, 13th Floor 777, rue Bay, 13e étage Toronto ON M5G 2E5 Toronto ON M5G 2E5 Phone: (416) 585-7264 Téléphone: (416) 585-7264 Fax: (416) 585-6161 Télécopieur: (416) 585-6161 November 2005 To Municipal Treasurers and Municipal Auditors: I am writing to share with you some progress we've made on improving the timeliness of the Financial Information Return (FIR) and some additional information on the Municipal Performance Measurement Program (MPMP). In the past, we have received feedback requesting that the tax schedule portion of the FIR be provided earlier so that this section may be completed in advance of the others. I am pleased to inform you that the entire FIR2005, including the tax and MPMP schedules, is now available for downloading at the FIR website. This is about 8 weeks earlier than in most previous years. The FIR website address has changed - please remember to update your bookmarks! http://csconramp.mah.gov.on.ca/fir/welcome.htm All information on the FIR website, including the FIR2005, Instructions and Start-Up Guide have also been updated and are available for downloading. As in previous years, a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet will be used for 2005 FIR reporting. Please remember that only FIR's which have been created by the Ministry and downloaded from the FIR website will be acceptable means of submission. Although some minor content changes and improvements have been made, the functionality of the FIR2005 remains very similar to previous years. For a complete list of content changes, please refer to the FIR2005 Content Changes document available at the FIR website. Before downloading and completing the FIR/MPMP Schedules, we recommend that you print the FIR2005 Start-Up Guide for reference. For those of you already familiar with the FIR, we have attached a quick reference sheet to this letter. Once again, the deadline for completing the FIR and MPMP Schedules will be May 31, 2006. In the past, some municipalities have experienced difficulty in submitting required information by this date. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that filing your FIR and MPMP data by the deadline is a requirement under the Municipal Act, 2001. It is also critical for enabling the province to calculate and reconcile Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) allocations. /2 After the FIR has been completed, it may be submitted by email to: FIR@mah.gov.on.ca Audit Questionnaires should also be submitted to your local Municipal Services Office. Municipal Performance Measurement Program (MPMP) You received a letter from Minister Gerretsen to your Head of Council dated November 17, 2005 that describes the Municipal Performance Measurement Program (MPMP) requirements for the 2005 reporting year. After reviewing data for the parks and recreation and library measures introduced in FIR2004, the Municipal Performance Measurement Program Advisory Committee recommended revising the formulas for all efficiency measures to include external transfers. This revision should improve the comparability of results. In light of this change, please take time to review the instructions to the FIR for reporting external transfers (Instructions - Schedule 40) and consolidation (Instructions - Introduction). Highlights of these definitions are also included in the instructions to Schedule 91. For FIR2005, the formula for the amount of program support allocated to other functions remains the same. For a detailed discussion of the allocation formula, please see the introductory chapter to the instructions to the FIR. This formula may be revised in FIR2006 to include external transfers. In preparation for this change, the Treasurer's Group of the Ontario Municipal CAO's Benchmarking Association (OMBI) has suggested that municipalities review any external transfers reported as program support in SLC 40 0260 06. External transfers related to program areas should not be reported on any line for general government. If external transfers are not related to a specific program, they should be reported on the line for corporate management in SLC 40 0250 06. Detailed instructions for MPMP measures are posted on the FIR web site. Also, see the section called "MPMP Information" for an Excel workbook for apportioning library uses. In addition, a workbook to assist your library in calculating library uses has been posted on the Ministry website: www.mah.gov.on.ca under "Templates: Library Uses - MPMP 2005 Forms". Should you have any questions or require assistance with completing the FIR and/or MPMP, please contact; Debbie Chen-Yin (FIR) at (416) 585-6299, Bohdan Wynnycky (MPMP) at (416) 585-6638, or your nearest Municipal Services Office. Sincerely, Larry Clay Director C: Directors, MMAH Municipal Services Offices