I have a return to written question asked by Ms. Sandy Lee on March 24, 2004, regarding the Workers' Compensation Board's revenue and expenses for 2002-03 and 2003-04.
The WCB's fiscal year is the calendar year and, therefore, information is provided for the year ending December 31, 2002. The 2003 financial information will not be available until the Office of the Auditor General has approved the WCB's 2003 financial statements, which is anticipated for the end of July.
The WCB's financial statements for 2002 are contained in the WCB's annual report, which was previously tabled with the Legislative Assembly.2002 revenue: assessments - $20.079 million; investment revenues - $13.936 million; recoveries - $873,000; total revenue - $34.888 million.2002 expenses: claims costs - $31.749 million; administration; salaries, wages and allowances - $9.627 million; other administration and general expenses - $7.960 million; less allocation to claims cost - negative $4.431 million; total administration - $13.156 million; total expenses - $44.905 million. Profit/loss from operations - $10.017 million.
It should be noted that the WCB's governance council has granted employers a discount on their assessment rates since 1999. The discount was intended to reduce a huge surplus that existed in the accident fund because of high investment returns in the 1990s.
Additional information requested by Ms. Lee concerned assessment rates and claims.
Average assessment rate: 2002 - $1.18; 2003 - $1.60.
Total numbers of claims: 2002 - $3,655; 2003 - $3,349.
Number of claims accepted: 2002 - 3,236; 2003 - 2,954.