Ministry of Ministère des Municipal Affairs Affaires municipales and Housing et du Logement Municipal Finance Policy Branch Direction des politiques relatives aux 777 Bay Street, 13th Floor finances municipales Toronto ON M5G 2E5 777, rue Bay, 13e étage Tel. (416) 585-6951 Toronto ON M5G 2E5 Fax (416) 585-6315 Tél. (416) 585-6951 Téléc. (416) 585-6315 December 5, 2008 To Municipal Treasurers and Municipal Auditors: I am pleased to inform you that the FIR2008, including the MPMP schedules, is now available for downloading at the FIR website: http://csconramp.mah.gov.on.ca/fir/welcome.htm All information on the FIR website, including the FIR2008, Instructions and Start-Up Guide has also been updated and are available for downloading. As in previous years, a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet will be used for 2008 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 FIR2008 remains very similar to previous years. For a complete list of content changes, please refer to the FIR2008 Content Changes document available at the FIR website. Before downloading and completing the FIR/MPMP Schedules, we recommend that you print the FIR2008 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 June 1, 2009. 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. After the FIR has been completed without any critical errors, it may be submitted by email to: FIR.mah@ontario.ca Audit Questionnaires should also be submitted to your local Municipal Services Office. Municipal Performance Measurement Program (MPMP) You received a letter from Minister Watson to your Head of Council dated November 26, 2008 that describes the MPMP measures and requirements for the 2008 reporting year. In MPMP Schedules 91 and 92, carry forwards will be reintroduced for denominators based on property assessment and population. The data in these cells may be deleted if a municipality is not responsible for a service and reports only residual expenditures in Schedule 40. A measure will not be calculated if the denominator is blank. Cells containing the new carry forwards that can be deleted will be white, compared to the gold cells that contain carry forwards that cannot be deleted. Detailed instructions for the 2008 performance measures and workbooks to assist in completing the library measures will be posted on the FIR website. Other Information Financial Statements, including a signed Auditor’s Report can be submitted electronically to: FIR.mah@ontario.ca It is preferred the Municipalities submit a PDF (Portable Document Format) version of the Financial Statements, although other formats such as WordPerfect, Word or Excel would also be acceptable. Municipalities that choose to submit their Financial Statements electronically are no longer required to send hard copies to their local Municipal Service Office. FIR data (excluding MPMP Schedules) from 2002 onwards can now be viewed at the FIR website either “By Municipality” or “By Schedule”. Look for the “View FIR Data” links on the FIR website to access the data. Should you have any questions or require assistance with completing the FIR and/or MPMP, please contact; Chris Terech (FIR) at (416) 585-6299, Bohdan Wynnycky (MPMP) at (416) 585-6638, or your nearest Municipal Services Office. Michael Ptolemy Acting Director, Municipal Finance Policy Branch cc: Directors, MMAH Municipal Services Offices Andrew Posluns, Director, Intergovernmental Relations and Partnerships Branch Allan Doheny, Director, Ministry of Finance