Hamilton taxpayers footing $820K for new social assistance software

Hamilton is at least $820,000 short after the Ontario government implemented a defectivenew computer system to deal with the city's social assistance cases. And local officials aren't exactly sure how they're going to make the province pay.

In November 2014, the province implemented the Social Assistance Management System (SAMS) a controversial new computer system that had pages of bugs and hasresulted in at least $140 million province-wide in incorrect payments.

Ontario said it would reimburse cities for SAMS costs. But Joe-Anne Priel, head of community and social services, says Hamilton needs $820,056 more than the province has provided.

So far, the province has given Hamilton $549,600 to cover its staff time, training materials, hardware and software and other costs. But the city has spent $1,369,656.

Whether the province is short money or not, we're owed this money.- Joe-Anne Priel, general manager of community and social services

City council will write to the province to ask for the rest. In the meantime, Priel said, local taxpayers will have to pay for it.

"Whether the province is short money or not, we're owed this money," she said.

The province spent at least $294 million to implement SAMS, which was quickly unpopular among social assistance workers and recipients, as well as municipalities and unions.

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In response, the Ministry of Community and Social Services doled out extra resources to help workers adjust to the system. At one point, Minister Helena Jaczek visited workers in Hamilton OW and ODSP offices.

PricewaterhouseCoopers also authored a SAMS report for the province, which moved on all of the report's 19 recommendations.

In Hamilton, the city got $549,600 between 2013 and March 2015 to deal with the new system, Priel said. But there hasn't been any money since.

As of July, there were still 771 defects with SAMS, Priel said. And there are still "pages" of issues.

The city established a business transformation team to guide the process from last May until June 30, 2016. That required facility, furniture and technology expenses, as well as new computer monitors, since the old ones didn't work properly with SAMS. But there's no money to pay for it.

Councillors on the city's emergency and community services committee agreed Monday to write a letter.But this cost is falling to taxpayers, said Coun. Matthew Green. The city may have to get more aggressive.

The city might have to look at "what our legal actions are should the opportunity come," he said.

Under the current plan, SAMS's problems won't be fully fixeduntil 2017, Priel said.

And the $820,000 figure is only the cost to local Ontario Works cases. In Hamilton, provincial employees handle Ontario Disability Support Program payments.