Community Living Services Transition Steering Committee
c/o BC Association for Community Living
3^rd Floor, 30 East 6^th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5T 4P4

Memorandum to:    All TSC members
From:                     Doug Woollard and Deanna Kratzenberg
Regarding:             Update on Joint Budget Working Group
Date:                     Tuesday, October 22nd, 2002

We have completed five days of intense meetings of the Joint Budget Working Group.  Given the high level of interest amongst all TSC members and the community in general, we wanted to provide you with an update on our progress.

The following statements have been agreed to by the Ministry representatives of the Working Group and should only be used in any form in their entirety.  It is important to keep in mind that this represents recommendations to the Minister and as such are subject to the approval of the Minister and Treasury Board.

[1]       We have had a productive, positive process with senior Ministry staff.  The recommendations that are going forward meet the Ministry’s financial objectives within a framework of a successful, safe transition that we believe will be supported by the community.

[2]       We have identified and confirmed ways to retain existing budgeted funds within the system for strategic investments to support restructuring costs for both this year and next year.  This will greatly aid the transition [e.g. making changes to current services to accommodate the choices made by individuals and families, establishing Individualized Funding and planning supports].

[3]       We have focused on efficiencies and savings in government and administration to reduce the projected deficit next year from $80 million to between $25 million and $30 million. This reduction is before any savings are sought through creative and innovative solutions in service delivery. We will be asking agencies, in agreement with individuals and families, to find between 4.5% and 5.0% in savings next year.  Savings will be accomplished by offering choices to families and individuals and by accommodating those choices.

[4]       Changes based on individual and family choice will take time – they must be done gradually and they must respect people's right to choose.  We have mutually agreed to recommend  restructuring funding of between $45 million and $50 million using financial resources from this year’s budget to provide us this time and to support the cost of changes in forms of residential services. 

[5]       We plan to bring the planning support function up early to ensure planning support is available and will begin training and orientation as quickly as possible to ensure that individuals, families and agencies get the information and support they require.

[6]       As a result of this work by the Ministry and community representatives it is anticipated that any change to any service to an individual or family will be based on the choices made by that individual or family.  There will be no across-the-board cuts to services as was originally feared.