Governing Ourselves informs members of legal and regulatory matters affecting the profession. This section provides updates on licensing and qualification requirements, notification of Council resolutions and reports from various Council committees, including reports on accreditation and discipline matters.
BUDGETS
COUNCIL APPROVES 2013 COLLEGE BUDGET
The College Council has approved a balanced budget for 2013 with the annual membership fee unchanged at $138.
Council decisions that resulted from the LeSage report have had a major impact on this year’s budget. Many recommendations had no cash costs but two in particular had significant costs associated with them — increasing the number of disciplinary hearings to provide timely adjudication of cases, and communicating the College’s mandate to the public.
These two Council decisions added close to $2 million to a budget that had very little cushion in it. “The committee and staff worked together trying to fit these new demands into a limited budget,” said Finance Committee Chair Marie-Louise Chartrand. “Many important initiatives had to be postponed or scaled back.”
The College is increasing the number of disciplinary hearings from 50 in past years to 75 in 2013. This level of activity is expected to continue for up to four years.
Revenues are declining as fewer individuals apply for membership at the College. Almost 90 per cent of the College revenues come from annual membership fees.
Close to 80,000 College members — a vital and critical component of the overall membership — pay their fees directly rather than through an employer and account for $8.6 million of College revenue.
“To fund the new demands, the College needed to utilize the reserves that were just being rebuilt,” said Deputy Registrar Joe Jamieson, OCT. “Although the reserves were used exactly as intended, to fund unplanned and unexpected costs, it still leaves the College with backup resources lower than we would wish.”
Revenues and expenses for 2013 are balanced at $36,858,000.
The same budget goals that guided the first Council applied to the 2013 budget:
- that services be adequately funded with appropriate attention to economy, efficiency and effectiveness
- that annual fees be maintained at the lowest possible levels, balanced against other financial objectives
- that resources continue to be accumulated to ensure the College’s financial stability.
