Two letters from a local accounting firm about fundraising for the Heart Barrie landmark sign still don’t include the details.
While former Barrie city councillor Mike McCann raised $200,000 for the waterfront sign at Heritage Park, where is the accounting of the remaining $170,000 from sponsors, even with some of the money being in-kind donations?
Not in either letter.
McCann has said — in what he has called his “final statement" to the City of Barrie and the local news media — that any leftover money will be spent on promoting Barrie and other charitable organizations, including saving the turtles and beavers.
McCann did not return a text message Monday from BarrieToday.
Chartered professional accountants Smith, Sykes, Leeper and Tunstall LLP, licensed public accountants in Barrie, have issued two letters dated March 9 and published on city council’s circulation list ahead of Wednesday night’s meeting.
The first letter, addressed to Heart Barrie shareholders, concludes: “Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the financial statements do not present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Heart Barrie as at Dec. 31, 2021, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with Canadian Accounting Standards for private entities.”
The second letter, to Heart Barrie’s board of directors, concludes: “Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the financial statements do not present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Heart Barrie as at Dec. 31, 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with Canadian Accounting Standards for not-for-profit organizations.”
Neither letter contains numbers from the financial statements.
McCann said last June that Heart Barrie is a private business and he’s its half-owner, but declined to identify the other owner. He did say it has a private, harmonized sales tax (HST) number.
Smith, Sykes, Leeper and Tunstall LLP did not return a phone message Monday from BarrieToday.
Mayor Alex Nuttall has said McCann’s “final statement” provided no detail on the Heart Barrie sign’s financials. Nuttall declined further comment to BarrieToday on Monday.
Early last November, McCann said, “I will disclose all financials” for the landmark sign.
McCann also addressed the matter on Facebook on Nov. 6, 2022: “We’re going to have some money left over and I’m not going to choose where that money is spent, and you are definitely not going to choose where that money is spent, the sponsors will choose how that money is going to be spent,” he said.
The city’s website shows information provided by McCann — 11 donations of $20,000 ($220,000), 13 donations of $10,000 ($130,000) and four donations of $5,000 ($20,000). This totals $370,000, although that figure is not on the city page.
McCann has said a spreadsheet of money in and money out would be shared with the city’s finance department once all the money is collected.
Craig Millar, the city’s chief financial officer, said Monday that other than what has been made public on Barrie’s website, the city’s finance department has not received any additional information.
Barrie’s former city council, which sat from 2018 to 2022, passed a motion that any money raised on top of the $200,000 for the Heart Barrie sign, where no donation receipts have been issued, be donated to 'save the beavers' and 'save the turtles' programs in the city.
McCann has said some of the donations were in-kind, for media and administration, although exactly what those donations were for, their value and who made them remains unknown.
The City of Barrie does not have a specific policy about fundraising by sitting councillors, but does have a council and committee member code of conduct. It has a donation policy that provides guidance related to the process and requirements of receiving cash and in-kind donations which are intended to support projects, programs or services offered by the city. That policy covers cash donations given directly to the city and establishes the requirements for issuing donation receipts for income tax purposes.
The city received $200,000 that was required as part of council approval of the Heart Barrie sign and it was used to pay for the sign’s cost.
McCann has said the sign is intended to unite Barrie — to help businesses by driving residents and visitors to the downtown and have them celebrate the city by being photographed with the landmark sign.
The former city council added $15,000 to the city’s operations department budget, beginning this year, to cover costs of potential graffiti removal and winter maintenance on and around the sign.
The sign has been damaged structurally and repaired, and defaced by graffiti, twice since it went up July 1, 2022.
It was defaced overnight Sept. 18-19 with the words and symbols 'Dirty $' and 'CLEAN HANDS', with a circled X and the words 'BUT LIES' on the nearby concrete pavement. The city’s graffiti abatement program removed the words and symbols on the morning of Sept. 19.
The sign is located in Heritage Park, directly on the entry axis to the downtown waterfront park, as pedestrians cross Simcoe Street from Meridian Place.
