By Cecilia Nasmith
The special Northumberland County council meeting held Wednesday to consider the funding request from its two hospitals ended without a yes or no.
There was no question of support for both Northumberland Hills Hospital and Campbellford Memorial Hospital, and no argument of their value to the community in every area from health care to their role as economic driver.
The $1-million annual commitment they were requesting over a 10-year period in support of transformative capital needs, however, was not unanimously supported.
In the end, county councillors supported a motion asking for more information – and specifically what other supportive opportunities county council might be able to get behind, whether that be a lower level of funding support or helping to provide a specific piece of capital equipment.
An exhaustive staff report shared the challenges of granting the original request, not the least of which is that any financial support represents an additional tax burden.
It's not as if taxes paid to the county do not already support health care, Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Moore pointed out. More than one-quarter of a year's tax bill goes to direct health-care support, in the form (among other things) of such services as Northumberland Paramedics and the Golden Plough Lodge long-term-care home - which is currently undergoing a significant rebuild to expand from 151 to 180 beds that will already add to the tax levy.
Then there's the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit, which the county is obliged to support. The province recently changed the funding formula to increase the county's share by 5%.
Treasurer Glenn Dees pointed out that the land Northumberland Hills Hospital occupies was worth $2.5-million but was sold to the hospital corporation (so the hospital could be built there) for $920,000. That money was distributed to the county's member municipalities, Dees said. And more than half of it was donated back to the hospital by four of those municipalities (the Town of Cobourg and the Townships of Hamilton, Cramahe and Alnwick-Haldimand).
Dees also cited precedents of the county declining to grant funding requests from the hospitals in 2010 and 2011.
Through the county's budget simulation tool, he added, 77 users had responded to the question of whether to fund this latest request. Of that number, 36 said no, 32 said yes and nine were undecided.
Of the 23 comments offered, 20 were from those who had said no. Their reasons almost always had to do with taxes they felt were already too high and their belief that this is a provincial responsibility.
“The county is still underinvesting for infrastructure investments, and not keeping pace with the requirements of the Asset Management Plan,” Dees pointed out.
Though the county's debt is well within the limits prescribed by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, he continued, it is facing a significant amount of debt currently, largely due to the Golden Plough Lodge project, social housing expansion, the Brighton shared-emergency-services base and the consolidated public works yard.
Should council be inclined to grant the request, Moore pointed out that a 10-year commitment binds future councils and called for a number of conditions and clarifications (reporting and communications requirements, for example).
Commenting on the staff report, Councillor Bob Sanderson noted, “the part that is somewhat missing from my perspective is the economic benefit and the contributions hospitals make to the municipalities and the county.
“Health-care services, I have to believe, are one of the highest criteria for businesses to open up or people to move to the area.”
Deputy Warden Mandy Martin assumed the role of devil's advocate.
“We as a county are also responsible for infrastructure. In other words, the roads, the bridge, the environmental concerns, the forests, so on, so forth,” Martin listed.
“Our plate covers a gamut of services, be it social services, be it the paramedics. You have noticed our budget is already 25% given over to health care, but we are losing in terms of planning for our infrastructure,” she said.
“I am not saying that the ask is not legitimate, but financially it doesn't sit well at all.
“We are looking at a 10-year plan. You tell me what happens when the next pandemic comes along To commit to 10 years when we know how things can change – the 10-year factor doesn't sit well with me. The amount that is asked doesn't sit well with me.
“I am thinking of Thompson Bridge in Trent Hills. Who gets what? We are not a one-trick pony, and neither is the taxpayer.”
Councillor Gail Latchford pointed out that a 10-year agreement would tie up three future councils into an unknown future.
“Things may turn out great, things may not. With this COVID today, we don't know if there's going to be a fifth wave,” Latchford said.
If there's the kind of unforeseen financial challenge that COVID proved to be five years from now, she said, that future council will be faced with what projects to cancel in order to accommodate this 10-year commitment without raising taxes too much.
Councillor Bill Cane agreed.
“When I think of the (hospital) funding, I conjure up the word 'donations.' People give money, people participate in activities and events where they pay admission fees or a surcharge to participate,” Cane said.
What the county is asked for is not exactly a donation, he continued – it's a taxation on Northumberland residents.
Cane said he has had only positive experiences at the hospital and would encourage everyone to donate generously – perhaps the county might even include donation envelopes in its tax bills. But that should be each individual's choice.
“As much as I support the hospital, I can't support spending $1-million a year over 10 years,” he declared.
Sanderson wondered if supporting targeted pieces of capital equipment might be an easier sell to Northumberland taxpayers.
Councillor John Henderson expressed his wish to hear input on the matter from more than the 77 users of the budget simulation tool in a county with a population of 90,000.
“I would like to find the sweet spot, if there is one, to garner support for our hospitals,” Henderson said.
Warden Bob Crate allowed a private citizen identified only as Erik to speak from a taxpayer's perspective – and Erik was all for the $10-million commitment.
“Our hospitals, I think, have a priority,” he stated.
“I understand County Road 8 has potholes and requires resurfacing. Or do we get another bed in the hospital? I would rather choose the bed in the hospital, compared to a little bit of infrastructure.”
“Choosing between fixing the road and supporting the hospital – infrastructure is our mandate. We don't have a choice. We are responsible for that,” Cane responded.
“The hospital is not on our plate. That's something extra. There's only so much money out there, and it's all coming from the same taxpayer. If we have to choose between fixing potholes on the road and supporting the hospital, I'm afraid we have to fix the potholes.”
Warden Crate reiterated his own support for the hospital, but returned to the question of people in Campbellford who have to drive 16 km. to get from one side of the bridge to the other.
“It's pointed out every year when we sit through budget deliberations – we are getting further behind the eight ball every year being able to keep our infrastructure up to what it should be,” he said.
“All these things are part of what we were elected to look at and try to solve.”
In the end, council passed Sanderson's motion to ask both hospitals and their foundations for more information, especially relating to other opportunities to support them in terms of funding amounts and capital-equipment purchases, such information to be brought forward at council's Oct. 20 meeting.
