At their most recent meeting, the board for the South East Health Unit approved a motion to harmonize municipal levies.
The South East Health Unit consists of the former Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH), Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health (KFL&A), and Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.
The three merged into one health unit earlier this year.
South East Health Unit Medical Officer of Health and CEO, Dr. Piotr Oglaza, said the board agreed that funding for programs and services should be split 67.5 per cent from the provincial government and 32.5 per cent at the municipal level. This split will be reached through a phased approach over five years, and will apply across the health unit’s region.
The board’s agenda package for the meeting states that the mandatory minimum split is 75 per cent provincial and 25 per cent municipal. If the health unit had gone with this option, they would not have been eligible for $4.3 million in merger funding from the province. The current average split is about 70/30, but going with this option would also risk losing some or all of the merger funding.
The agenda package states that the phased approach to a 67.5/32.5 split would help ensure continuation of programs and services.
It says under the phased approach, it would be a 69.25/30.75 split in 2026, then 69/31 in 2027, 68.5/31.5 in 2028 and 68/32 in 2029 before reaching the final target of 67.5/32.5 in 2030.
Oglaza said the levy harmonization means they’ll be working towards ensuring every municipality in the health unit’s service area will be paying the same rate. Municipalities with larger populations would pay a larger total amount, but the same amount as every other municipality per capita.
Dr. Oglaza said without the merger, some of the legacy heath units would be facing a significant erosion of services.
“Two out of three were functioning at the deficit level, so [the] Hastings Prince Edward situation wasn’t as critical because they had reserves, but they were drawing from reserves to cover [the] operating budget, so that was not sustainable long-term,” he said.
“The situation in Leeds-Grenville was also very, very similar. [It was a] much more dire situation with practically having these financial pressures without having a budget to rely on.”
The agenda package states that before the merger, KFL&A’s funding split was 65 per cent provincial and 35 per cent municipal. Dr. Oglaza said of the three legacy health units, KFL&A was in the best shape financially, though not perfect.
The agenda package says a 65/35 split would be the best option for the long-term sustainability of programs and services, however it would pose difficulty for the municipalities that would have to start contributing more than they have previously.
Dr. Oglaza said overall, having the larger South East Health Unit will allow for more innovation and efficiency in providing service.
“The move towards those larger organizations, like the South East Public Health is right now, is really to have that continuity of service and resources available,” he said.
Dr. Oglaza added that the discussion around municipal levies will continue at the next board meeting on Oct. 22.
