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Between the time he began working for Halton in June and the beginning of December, Foulds, a former police officer, conducted 69 investigations of potential fraud. He alsochased down people who had received welfare overpayments and s'uc- ceeded in having 90% of them begin repaying the debt. Tuesday, Peter Foulds, Halton’s welfare fraud investigaâ€" tor, told the regional health and social services committee that as of December his work had result- ed in five criminal prosecutions and 27 people being cut off bene- fits. He also has 15 active inves- tigations underway with two expected to be shortly handed over to police. Tuesday, Foulds estimated Halton Region had saved roughly $30,000 in monthly payments by cutting off the 27 welfare cheaters, but he was reluctant to project that into a yearly figure By ROB KELLY Special to the Beaver People who cheat on Halton’s welfare system are probably more nervous about it now than they were a few months ago. Welfare fraud investigator keeps recipients honest BANKRUPTCY 27 cheaters cutoff { SPACE AGE SHELVING I: Halton dispensed more than $28 million on welfare in 1992, and social workers generally handled more than 100 cases each simultaneously. Foulds said the high workload faced by welfare workers hamâ€" pers their “ability to carefully monitor” each welfare case. The eight-month-old position is “fulfilling its need,” the coun- cillor said. Among other efforts, Foulds did an audit of 2,758 returned welfare cheques to determine where they were cashed. That can be an important fraud clue, since only Halton residents are supposed to file claims in the region. The audit revealed that 117 Halton welfare cheques were cashed elsewhere, and social workers are following up with inquiries. Burlington councillor, Doug Greenaway, who battled hard to hire a fraud investigator when several other regional councillors were lukewarm to the idea, said he was happy with Foulds’ work to date. because even former cheaters can requalify for welfare and collect benefits again. MAURIA CLINIC 0F ELECTROLYSIS MAUREEN SCOTT, cm; afi'flfit‘fifi: 845-8100 329 Lakeshore Rd. E. Suite 102 Eyebrow: arched and shaped Hairline permanently contoured Facial hair removed Bikini line shaped Armx, Chest J; Back hair removed Underarm hair removed Expires Jan. 29/93 Over 15 years of Combined Experience Vaiid one coupon pe! new customer HAIR REMOVAL TREATMENT FREE (Value $21) RACHEL MAILE By ROB KELLY Special to the Beaver While that is not good news, it at least is not quite the bad tidings regional welfare director Janet Menard had anticipated. The $28,041,130 is “slightly less than we had budgeted. We had budgeted $29.6 million,” she said Tuesday. Menard also noted that Halton dealt with 40,145 welfare claims in 1992. That too was “slightly under” the expected 42,000 cases. Each case may represent an entire family. Year-end figures show Halton Region dispensed more than $28 mil- lion in welfare cheques in 1992, an increase of approximately 35% over the $20.7 million disbursed in 1991. Welfare payments rose 35% last year b Keithmoor 99 viera and Nash As low as by Riviera, Hilfiger Polo As low as hem . 99 H'gerÂ¥3010 As lowas Many other outstanding savings throughout both stores! True retail savings on cuITent Suits Sports Coats 1 Riviera, em 99 iger Polo lowas Also, other Super Savings on selected gmups of... CASUAL PANTS DOWNTOWN OAKVlLLE DOWNTOWN BURLINGTON 183 Lakeshove Road E. 845-8911 389 Brant Street 639-6165 DRESS PANTS OUTER WEAR fiegion issued $28 million in welfare chequ__es From January of 1992 to year end, the number of monthly claims only climbed 9% Menard pointed out â€" from 3,337 cases to 3,611. “That’s not a bad increase in a year Welfare costs are shared among the regional, provincial, and federal governments. Halton pays 20% of the bill in many instances, while the other two government tiers split the remainder. Because there are various funding exceptions to the ratio, Halton, in fact, only paid $4.3 million for welfare in 1992. But that was $180,000 over' the approximately $4.1 million regional government had anticipated, Menard acknowl- edged. The accepted average is that one case equals two people on welfare. CUSTOM TAILORED SUITS AND SPORTSCOATS lowas WINTER OUTERCOATS 38013179 by Cambri ,Wamen K Cook, Ham's obb's, and Elan 25% by Ham's Hopb's, Elan, Baumler, Iggy Camlm'dge, Warnen K Cook, aumler Brand, Harris Hobb's, Elan Alexander Julian Selected groups as low as Selected gmups as low as SPORT COATS ’arkHaIl irid’Progms’ ’ 7' Reduced byP Lilp son, W129 ooHllfiger, PHathaway As low as b 99 MakeIs As low as As Iowas Halton’s caseload crept up slight- ly from 3,337 in January of 1992 to 3,452 in March, then began a slow decline from April to bottom out at 3,142 in September. Since then, the numbers have been moving up again. The 3,611 cases in December represented a new high. In terms of the unemployment, E that has led to massive increases in 0” welfare claims. Menard was guard- edly optimistic. “We’re starting to see some movement in the labor market.” 993 HEIAVEI The 40,150 cases in 1992 repre- .4 sent an increase of approximately '5 34% over the 29, 983 in 1991. mg 1990 Halton recorded 17,396 wel- fare claims. that was economically pretty poor.’,’ Hathéway SPORT SHIRTS haway owas