Levy Central program adds first Alberta client
Saskatoon, SK (April 11, 2011) – The Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan Inc. (ACS) has added a ninth client to the Levy Central program with the addition of the Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission (AWWPC).
“We’re pleased to welcome the AWWPC to Levy Central and ACS,” said ACS Chair Neil Ketilson. “ACS is a professional organization with an objective of delivering programs and services that benefit our members and clients. We’re confident that the AWWPC will experience many advantages of being under the Levy Central program.”
The benefits of using levy collection services through Levy Central include an Automated Levy Tracking System, a knowledgeable Levy Central staff that has 23 combined years of experience working with levy collection and the database, and the ability for buyers of multiple commodities to deal with one organization and remit reports and payments to one address. Working relationships are quickly established between Levy Central staff and buyers, resulting in fewer reporting errors and less delinquency of reports and payments.
“What appealed to us was Levy Central’s data management systems, paper trails and processes for collecting and tracking levies,” said Rick Istead, Executive Director of the AWWPC. “One of our organization’s challenges has been levy collection efficiency (currently around 60%). Like many organizations we struggle with keeping our databases current. We believe Levy Central’s system will be an asset. We also feel that by outsourcing this activity, it will free up our manager’s time to carry out more value-added activities for the organization.”
A levy is collected on each of the crops for the nine Levy Central organizations, paying for research, market development and education activities through the commodity organizations. The commodity organizations that collect levies through Levy Central are:
- Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission
- Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission
- Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission
- Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan
- Saskatchewan Oat Development Commission
- Manitoba Oat Growers Association
- Saskatchewan Winter Cereals Development Commission
- Winter Cereals Manitoba Inc.
- Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission
The Levy Central program was previously administered by the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission (SCDC) and was transferred to ACS in February 2010. ACS operates a Levy Central Advisory Group, made up of members from the nine commodity organizations and two directors from the ACS Board.
There are many benefits for organizations to use levy collection services through Levy Central and ACS. For more information on Levy Central, please contact Christine Colborne, Levy Manager at (306) 975-6623 or colbornec@agcouncil.ca.
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For more information, please contact:
Dallas Carpenter, Communications Manager
Phone: 975-6856
E-mail: carpenterd@agcouncil.ca
www.agcouncil.ca