Sarsfield to take hard line with municipalities

After a trip to Toronto earlier this month to lobby provincial reps for more funding, the CEO and chief medical officer of the Northwestern Health Unit has returned with one option–raise the per capita levy once again.
“We’re going to be asking for an increase of about $1 million and we’re probably going to be hitting the municipalities,” acknowledged Dr. Peter Sarsfield.
And Dr. Sarsfield vowed he won’t take “no” for an answer. He said provincial legislation requires municipalities to pay their levy and will be forced to bring any municipality to court which refuses to do so in 2001.
Fort Frances had refused to pay this year’s per capita increase before finally backing down last month.
“Management has an obligation, by law, to request a budget which will permit the health unit to do 100 percent of mandatory programs,” Dr. Sarsfield explained.
“The board has an obligation by law to set a levy, which will permit mandatory programs to be done by staff. [And] the municipalities have an obligation to pay the levy.
They don’t have the right or authority to refuse,” he stressed.
Services have soared in public health, said Dr. Sarsfield, and the board has an obligation–by law–to set a levy which will permit mandatory programs to be done by staff.
“We’ve had a 400 percent increase in our water works alone,” he noted. “But my feeling is the province dumped a significant responsibility to the municipalities.”
Along with Ingrid Parkes, chair of the health unit board, and Administration Team Leader Wayne Hanchard, Dr. Sarsfield met with Colin D’Cunha, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, and other ministry reps for three hours last Friday.
“It was a good new, bad news joke. They said we were doing the right thing in terms of process,” Dr. Sarsfield said. “The bad news was they don’t have any funding for us except, possibly, hopefully for the unincorporated [areas].”
The province likely will pay 50 percent of the health unit’s budget, matching dollar for dollar all the money brought in through levies, as it did last year.
Using the 50/50 formula to its advantage, the health unit had allotted $150,000 out of its emergency reserve for the year’s expenses and that money, along with the dollars from municipalities, was matched by the province.
Now with the year almost ended, the health unit expects most of the money taken out of the reserve fund will remain untouched.
“It appears we will use little, if not none, of that,” Hanchard said at Monday night’s town council meeting here.
But despite the matching provincial funding, and an increase in the per capita levy across the Kenora/Rainy River districts by $1.27 this year, the health unit said it’s still failing to deliver all of the provincially-mandated programs.
Although the province will continue to contribute 50 percent of funding, the health unit said it will have even more difficulty balancing its budget this time around because of increased programs and costs in addition to the current shortfall.
The board also is not likely to dip into the $350,000 remaining in the emergency reserve.
“We gambled right. We saw the province match that increase and through lobbying and some luck, received more funding. Next year, I do not think we will be going forward with that,” said Hanchard.
“It makes us very shaky should anything go bang in the night. It makes me extremely uneasy,” agreed Dr. Sarsfield.
But while the 50/50 funding is assured for 2001, Dr. Sarsfield expected the province’s plan–eventually–is to reduce its funding again.
In fact, the only funding boost the health unit may receive from the province in 2001 is an increase for the unincorporated areas, which has remained unchanged at $1.1 million over the past nine years.
There are roughly 30,000 residents in those areas within the health unit’s jurisdiction.
“We’ve got the biggest unincorporated area in Ontario. We’re the largest area in terms of miles and the smallest in terms of population,” noted Dr. Sarsfield.
In the meantime, the health unit is expected to present its budget to board members for approval at a meeting Jan. 19.
Given the protracted battle with Fort Frances over this year’s levy hike, council had asked to meet health unit reps at Monday’s meeting to explain why more money is needed again.
“As it stands right now, and it is all guesswork because mandatory programs are being looked at again, but if it was to stay as it is now, we would need $50 per capita to cover 100 percent of mandatory programs,” said Parkes.
With the current levy of $33 per capita, the health unit has only been able to provide 80 percent of services.
Fort Frances council is worried a substantial increase will come down from the health unit, making it more difficult to balance the town’s 2001 budget.
“We set aside a portion for uncontrollable [costs] so please keep the uncontrollable under control,” Mayor Glenn Witherspoon told the health unit reps.
Both the town and health unit agreed more money needs to be provided to cover the unincorporated areas so municipalities don’t have to foot the bill.
“Fifty percent of our population or more is First Nations. Are they going to be paying $50 per capita? It’s about time they did,” said Mayor Witherspoon.
“The unorganized do not pay any of that money. The levels of funding are frozen in 1991 rates,” noted Hanchard.