Regional government to wait for future hospital plan ‘district council can support’ before pledging millions in taxpayer dollars
MUSKOKA — A leaking operating room ceiling. Ancient patient elevators. Partial sprinkler system coverage. Muskoka’s hospitals need help. Now.
District of Muskoka councillors have responded to a plea for help from Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) to fund urgent facility repairs or other immediate needs at the deteriorating Bracebridge and Huntsville hospitals by boosting the district hospital capital financing reserve by $200,000 to $600,000 annually, as part of the regional government’s 2018 budget.
The reserve historically offered funds to hospitals that serve Muskoka patients.
“We would, upon completion of all the other commitments to other hospitals, focus that money on MAHC for current needs for the existing facilities in South Muskoka and Huntsville,” said Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison, district corporate and emergency services committee chair, after a district budget meeting held Jan. 31. “And we would create a committee specifically for that fund of representatives from MAHC and district council to determine how best to invest that money.”
Councillors had heard in January that, as the Muskoka hospitals grappled with a combined $9 million to $11 million in ongoing equipment needs, the aging buildings themselves in many ways failed to meet provincial standards.
While the province provided operating funds to hospitals, it did not provide funding for capital projects such as equipment or facility repairs.
Hospital representatives had noted, as examples, the Bracebridge hospital roof leaked over the operating room, while elevators used to transport patients between floors at the same hospital were so old that manufacturers refused to service their control panels any longer.
And in Huntsville an inadequate water system left the hospital only partially fitted with sprinkler systems.
The list went on.
And, according to the hospital foundations, major donations for capital needs had declined, as the long-term future of the Bracebridge and Huntsville hospitals remained uncertain.
The decision to increase the district reserve rose to help meet that need, but at the same time it did not address MAHC’s main request of the district.
Hospital representatives had actually urged committee members to stockpile roughly $114 million in new taxes over the next 15 years to fund the estimated $84 million to $114 million local share of as yet undetermined future hospital redevelopment in Muskoka.
The provincially mandated local share must fund 10 per cent of construction costs, plus equipment and furniture for any new hospital infrastructure.
A 25-member capital plan development task force of hospital, municipal, health-care and community representatives continued to debate redevelopment options, which included both one- and two-hospital models.
“Until we know what is being proposed for capital redevelopment, we’re not prepared to commit money,” said Aitchison, who also sits on the task force. “We’ve heard loud and clear that without the local share being covered they won’t be able to get anywhere. That tells us that if, in fact, they present something to the ministry that district council can support, then we’ll have that discussion at that point.”
But he added that he supported MAHC representatives giving district committee members fair warning of just how much the local share of future hospital redevelopment could cost.
“It’s not wrong to get it on the record that it’s a big number,” he said.
The district, however, doesn’t officially approve its 2018 budget until later in February.
Phil Matthews, vice-chair for the MAHC board, was adamant in a previous presentation to district councillors that any future hospital redevelopment project would be in jeopardy without municipal support.
“The issue comes down to who is going to pay. … We need an answer, and we need it in the short term,” said Matthews. “We are contemplating filing our submission for the capital plan in the fall of this year. How do we demonstrate to the minister of health and long-term care within that time frame that we will come up with the local share?”
He said the Bracebridge and Huntsville hospital foundations would do everything they could to get private donors to support the local share, but the amount needed based on estimates would be daunting for Muskoka, which had fewer residents and corporate donors than larger urban centres in the province.
“Somewhere along the line, we’re going to be looking at municipal participation in this,” said Matthews.
He said the community would have to get creative.
“Otherwise, we should really just look at the capital planning process we’re doing right now and say, ‘Forget it, we can’t do it. We either can’t do it or we can’t afford it,’” he said. “If we can’t afford it, then debate should turn to, ‘What can we afford,’ and scale it back down.”
He urged the district to start amassing funds now instead.
“The capital planning process is in your hands,” he concluded.
NEWS Feb 05, 2018 by Alison Brownlee Bracebridge Examiner