The clock is ticking as the Northwestern Health Unit threatens to close its doors Feb. 1 if area municipalities don’t pay their bills by midnight tomorrow.
It also will issue layoff notices Friday to its 100 employees, including about 30 in Fort Frances, Emo, Atikokan, and Rainy River), and start legal action against the municipalities, warned Dr. Pete Sarsfield, the health unit’s chief medical officer.
That could mean a $25,000 per day fine under the amended Health Protection and Promotion Act, he noted, stressing the municipalities were breaking the law by refusing to pay.
“It’s not a bluff. We don’t have the money to pay our bills,” Dr. Sarsfield argued, with about 80 percent of its $4.75 million annual budget going to payroll.
In fact, the health unit has dipped into its $400,000 reserve fund, normally saved for emergency immunizations and severance packages, to meet its financial obligations.
But area municipal leaders have questions they want answered before they dole out any money, with only four of the 24–Fort Frances, Atikokan, Golden, and Sioux Narrows–coming through with their share of the payment.
Many, including Fort Frances (even though it agreed to pay its January bill at Monday night’s council meeting), are refusing to sign the funding agreement until they are given answers.
“Not right now, we’re not,” said Alberton Reeve Judy Koski, noting the matter would be discussed at council there tonight. “We’re not signing it until we get some details.”
She questioned why the Rainy River District per capita levy jumped to $64.23 (it was $10 last year) when municipalities were told it cost around $40 per capita for public health in the district.
“We want to know why they’ve included the District of Kenora, and who gave them the authority to do that,” Reeve Koski added.
But Dr. Sarsfield said that $40 figure came from the “Who Does What” numbers, not those of the health unit nor Ministry of Health. And while municipalities were required to pay for public health Jan. 1, he stressed he reported to the board–not municipalities.
“They will have to go for the legislation to be re-written to have input,” Dr. Sarsfield explained. “They can’t set the budget. Their only control is to pay their bill.”
But municipalities aren’t content with that. After a lengthy debate here Monday night, and pleas from Coun. Bill Martin, who is Fort Frances’ rep on the health unit board, town council only agreed to pay its $45,500 interim payment for January.
The town refused to sign the funding agreement until it “negotiated” with the health unit.
Coun. Sharon Tibbs noted that in previous years, the town’s bill had been $89,000. Now, its annual bill is closer to half-a-million dollars.
“We’ve had no input into it, have we?” she wondered. “We have no control over the budget.”
“It just seems that these bureaucratic programs that are run by people who are not elected just expect you to pay the bill,” said Mayor Glenn Witherspoon, admitting there were some programs that were mandatory.
“But do we need all this other stuff? I doubt it.”
Council also called for an independent external audit of the health unit, and referred the issue to the Rainy River District Municipal Association’s annual meeting here Jan. 31.
It also wants the Kenora District Municipal Association to come on board.
“Maybe the way they do business has to be looked at rather than us just paying the bill,” agreed Emo Reeve Brian Reid, noting municipalities were being asked to cut 1.7 percent from their budgets so the agencies being “downloaded” should do the same.
“We can’t be held at gunpoint,” he added, with Emo council slated to discuss the issue at its meeting last night. “We probably will [pay it].”
As for those refusing to pay their bill, Dr. Sarsfield warned they were playing a game of chicken they couldn’t win–at the expense of the taxpayer.
“Why they are playing this game with the health of the public at risk is beyond me,” he said. “Municipalities are going to pay. It’s just a question of when.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
