Uncollectible Debts for 2001-02

The Nova Scotia government has written off $5.6 million in bad debts for the last fiscal year -- $10 million less than the year before.

Each year the government writes off amounts owed by companies or individuals as a result of bankruptcies and unpaid fines. For 2001-02, $4.2 million was written off because of business closures, compared to $11.4 million the previous year. The remaining $1.4 million was written off because of foreclosures, deaths, ceased operations, theft, settlements and unpaid fines.

"Writeoffs are an unavoidable cost of doing business," said Finance Minister Neil LeBlanc. "In some cases, these debts have been on the books for a decade or more, and removing them now is just a formality."

Like any collection agency, government departments try to recover the money owed to them, but sometimes, the cost of trying to recover a debt is greater than the liability is worth. In other cases, even though an amount may be written off from an accounting perspective, government will continue its efforts to collect, particularly in the case of unpaid fines.

NOTE: The following list outlines by department writeoffs for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2002.

Agriculture and Fisheries $ 661,956.43 Community Services 360,203.67 Economic Development 2,775,928.00 Environment and Labour 29,670.06 Justice 669,990.26 Natural Resources 8,493.88 Service N.S. and Municipal Relations 981,509.93 Tourism and Culture 22,151.99 Transportation and Public Works 118,428.01 N.S. Primary Forest Products Marketing Board 25,000.00

Total Write-offs for 2001-02 $ 5,653,332.23