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% of capital construction costs and 100% 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% provincial share and 30% 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;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Council of the Corporation of Municipality of Mississippi Mills does hereby call for a provincial 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 THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT a copy of this resolution be hereby circulated to the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.