Dear Members, Friends and Colleagues,

For many years, Townsend’s Board of Directors has constructed its annual budget, and authorized both ongoing and new program expenditures, on the basis of its best guesses as to what costs and incomes would be. Sometimes it has actually budgeted a substantial deficit ($92 000 a year) when it has strongly suspected income for the year would actually significantly exceed what had been dependably established at the time of budgeting.
As well, Townsend has also been constrained in its core funding over the course of the last decade. It has risen by a total of 17% from 1995/96 to 2005/06. During the same period, inflation rose by just under 20%, and Townsend’s membership grew by 150%.
This year, we’ve decided to address long-term cost pressures among all its funded agencies with an increase of 5% to the core funding for each of them, this despite receiving no additional money from the provincial Government for this purpose. For Townsend, this meant an increase of $53 000 in its ongoing core funding (bringing the total increase since 1995/96 to the 17% noted).
The Townsend Board of Directors is grateful for the increase to its core funding. However, this additional
$53 000 is not enough to sustain some of the expanded programming that has been put in place; and it is nowhere near enough to fund the further expansions hoped for. So the Board has made a series of very painful budget decisions:
-closure of Townsend’s highly regarded Positive Prevention department
-elimination of three full-time staff positions
-numerous reductions in programming across the range of Townsend’s services

Townsend’s Board of Directors will work vigorously to secure new funding to restore our lost programs and staff.


Man, dat sucks. Who had to present dat shit? Oh yeah, dat was me. Don’t shoot de messenger, folks, please. What were MY notes on all o’dat shit, Maro?