Whereas healthcare funding is a provincial and federal responsibility;
And whereas, from 2009 to 2020 a total of $415.4 million has been transferred from municipal operations to fund and build provincial hospitals;
And whereas, remaining long-term commitments to hospitals stand at $117.5 million (as of 2020), which will also be financed from municipal operations;
And whereas, a hospital is one of many public services that contributes to healthy communities;
And whereas, municipal contributions to provincial hospitals takes away from the resources available for other municipal services that contribute to the health and well-being of residents;
And whereas, a community’s total contribution to local hospitals also includes the donations made by benevolent individuals, groups, and businesses along with municipal contributions;
And whereas, a community’s required local share is to pay 10 per cent of capital construction costs and 100 per cent of the cost of equipment, furniture, and fixtures, which includes medical equipment with big ticket prices: MRI machines, CT scanners, and x-ray machines;
And whereas, this translates to a 70 per cent provincial share and 30 per cent local share (individuals, groups, businesses, and municipalities) of the overall cost of provincial hospital operations and capital projects;
And whereas, the adoption of the “design-build-finance” hospital construction model (also known as alternative financing and procurement or P3 projects), has increased local share amounts because they now include the costs of long-term financing;
And whereas, equipment replacement needs are increasingly frequent and increasingly expensive with average equipment lifespan of just ten years;
And whereas, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario has highlighted the “local share” of hospital capital contributions as a major issue in its 2022 Pre-Budget Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs;
Therefore be it resolved, that the Regional Chair, on behalf of Regional Council, write to the provincial government requesting re-examination of the “local share” hospital capital calculation methodology, to better reflect the limited fiscal capacity of municipalities, and the contributions to health care services they already provide to a community;
And further, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Peel-area MPPs, candidates running in the provincial election, and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.