SQLFusion - Inquiry costs close to 2M

Cornwall's Final Inquiry Tab: $1,738,981.03

Cornwall AM 1220

February 03, 2010 — The City of Cornwall has spent almost $1.74 million to have police officers testify at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. The police services board approved the final lawyer's bill this morning. The actual total is roughly $5.5 million but the Ministry of the Attorney General picked up 68 per cent of the tab. Mayor Bob Kilger tells AM 1220 News he will make his case to city council on Monday to ask the province for more money. (Hear audio clip below) Kilger is pleased there is a "financial conclusion" to the city's role in the longest public inquiry in the province's history. The city could approach the Ministry of Municipal Affairs which gave it a $3.2 million one-time special assistance grant for the inquiry in 2007.

Transcript of audio clip:

“I’ll make a suggestion, recommendation, to council for their consideration in what our next step in terms of approaching the province to see if in fact we could get further consideration beyond what we’ve already received for the costs of the Public Inquiry.”

Inquiry costs hit $1.7 million

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

04 February 2010

Posted By KEVIN LAJOIE

The Cornwall Public Inquiry has drained $1.7 million from the city's working reserves, and officials are hoping to recoup the funds from Queen's Park.

However, with the provincial government facing a massive deficit of its own, there may not be any cash in the well.

Members of the Cornwall police services board approved the last legal bill for the inquiry on Wednesday, bringing the city's total tally to roughly $1.7 million.

The full cost of the Cornwall police service's involvement at the inquiry was about $8.7 million. The costs prior to April 1, 2007, were covered by a onetime grant of $3.2 million from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, and the costs since then--about $5.5 million -- have been shared on a 68/32 split between the Ministry of the Attorney General ($3.8 million) and the city ($1.7 million).

Mayor Bob Kilger said he'll likely be approaching provincial officials to see if they would consider funding the remaining amount. The issue will be discussed by city council at its meeting on Monday night. "You're always hopeful," said Kilger when asked about the city's chances of securing the cash.

Coun. Denis Carr thinks the city should at least try to secure funding for the $1.7 million that was taken out of reserves to cover the inquiry expenses.

"I think we have a good case," said Carr, who chairs the city's budget committee. "If we get it back, it's a bonus."

As it stands now, the city's unrestricted working reserves sit at around $1.8 million -- not much for a corporation with a $148-million budget and numerous facilities and assets under its care.

During his annual city audit presentation last June, Ross Markell of Craig Keen Despatie Markell suggested the city's working reserves were on the low end, and they should actually be in the $4 million to $5 million range.

According to Ministry of the Attorney General spokesperson Brendan Crawley, the total cost of the inquiry up to the end of November was $48,834,917.

The figure includes $27.5 million in "direct costs" related to the inquiry's Cornwall office. Of that, $3.4 million went towards counselling and $318,656 was spent on travel expenses related to counselling, Crawley stated.

Another $21 million went towards legal fees for parties with standing, and a further $308,054 was spent by the Crown law office on civil and legal expenses related to the inquiry.

"We will know the final cost once all fees and transactions have been accounted, but we estimate that the final total will be approximately $50 million," Crawley wrote in an e-mail.

Article ID# 2432893

Comments on this Article.

So what you are saying is that the abused did not get any monetary restitution for the wrongs commited agaist them but the lawyers and counselors. I think that was a big waste of tax payers money. I know that some of the victims that testified in this were told that they would be compensated if they testified. i see that were lied too just to line the pockets of thsoe that made them these promises. We should just have paid damamges to the victims and left it alone since nothing really came out of the inquiry. I am sure that the victims now knowing that those people who convinced them to testify are the only ones compensated made them feel victimized all over again. What a shame.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #1 By wakeupcall

Why do the entities that failed not have a responsibility to cover the cost?

If CAS the legal system (parole officers) and the local police did not practice due diligence and Glaude states that in his findings, why does the city have to pay? There is one statement in this article which pretty much shows why we get no where“Coun. Denis Carr thinks the city should at least try to secure funding for the $1.7 million that was taken out of reserves to cover the inquiry expenses” Dennis Carr thinks, does he have a solution?? Or can he just think???

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #2 By itinerant

As with all legal processes in this country, the only winners are those servicing the system (ie police, lawyers, judges, clerical etc)

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #3 By iconoclast

I agree with you 100% ICANOCLAST.

And if you work for the Akwesasne PD the same is true they are rewrded for their corrupt activities instead of being charged.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #4 By wakeupcall

Maybe we should send the bill to Perry Dunlop who basically called for this inquiry, did not show up, and wasted how much of the taxpayer's money on his temper tantrums???

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #5 By Cornwallresident

Why wouldn,t the province pick up the bill?The province paid for everything so far.This just doesn,t make any sense, is the city hiding something.Just send in the bill like always,the city has been reinburst from day one .Whats diffrent now?Or just looking for a bull crap story line?

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #6 By luckyred

Maybe we should just pay the damn bill since the whole entire Cornwall system failed the victims which is what caused this inquiry in the first place. The police ,the CAS ,the Church, the courts, the pals of the perpetrators that committed the crimes against the victims and were protected by our local system and old boys network. This was an entirely made in Cornwall problem that if it had been dealt with properly would not have had to come to an inquiry. People get over yourselves and stop whinning just pay the bill.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #7 By dodger

To Cornwall resident; I agree 100%. He was the one who initiated this debacle, send him the bill (to wherever it is that he's hiding out).

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #8 By Glendale

post 5 and 8 are way off... the concept in post 7 is right. suck it up, the system failed the victim and the failure of the police to act properly forced perry dunlop into something he wasn't comfortable doing... once the crime is committed(and there is no cure for morally corrupt behavor) the inability of the investigating entities is what caused the eventual need for the Inquiry

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #9 By raspberry1

Raspberry, the almighty Perry Dunlop isn't 'comfortable' doing many things, such as conducting a proper, legal investigation and showing up to testify at the inquiry.

OBVIOUSLY too afraid to speak the truth.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #10 By Glendale

I'm not actually a pro or con perry dunlop, my point is to hand this on one person given the circumstances that occured is short sighted. what really initiated was attempted payoffs and a dinkledorf police cheif of the time (claude shaver)in an attempt to cover a horrible situation. the fact that perry dunlop violated some garbage fictional code of internal ethics (quite frankly that morally decent humans don't buy into) is a cop out (pardon the pun)

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #11 By raspberry1

It's a slow day in some little town. The sun is hot....the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich tourist from back west is driving thru town.

He stops at the motel and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.

As soon as the man walks upstairs, the owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill at the feed store. The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her services on credit. She, in a flash rushes to the motel and pays off her room bill with the motel owner. The motel proprietor now places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the $100 bill, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money & leaves.

NOW, no one produced anything...and no one earned anything...however the whole town is out of debt and is looking to the future with much optimism. And that, ladies and gentlemen is precisely how the Canadian Government is conducting business today!

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #12 By itinerant

If the province foots the bill tax payers are still paying for it. Government will have to increase taxes again, or something to that effect. The cost should solely be the responsibility of the entities that have been defined as failing in their due diligence. In that respect it is no different then a company paying for the deaths of people due to making unsafe products a recall of sorts if you will.

Let's see if Dennis can think up a solution for this he and his elite staff from the city's budget committee.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #13 By itinerant,