Letter to the Editor: Province punishing local taxpayers with unfair burden of Cassellholme costs

Editor's note: Mr. Gould writes in response to the BayToday article Eight of nine municipal partners ask government to deny Cassellholme redevelopment until concerns are addressed

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This concerns the recent statement by the mayors about Cassellholme and the petition we have run that has been signed by more than 50% of the residents of Calvin Township

Politics is often a matter of keeping a low profile and staying away from controversial issues. But maybe this is not always true in light of the recent mayors' statement about Cassellholme.

The Cassellholme rebuild has been discussed for many years and was slowly moving forward, but unfortunately, the desire to just “get it done” was overriding common sense. The project to be built on the same location as the current facility, costing over $121 million, plus interest, and be financed by municipal taxpayers over a period of 25 years, just made no sense.

Having existing seniors live in a construction zone for a period of five years would create a multitude of difficulties. Many patients are sensitive to noise and constant change and I can’t imagine how disruptive this project would have been for them and the staff.

Adding 24 beds might ease the shortage of beds today – although it would not solve the issue – no one will suggest it will solve the problem of shortages for the next 25 years. However, by adding 3% to 5% to the taxes of municipal residents every year for the next twenty-five years, you have severely limited future funding. How could you go back to these same residents in another ten years and take another 3% to 5%, because there is a need for further expansions and modifications?

One little-known issue is the inequality of funding.

In Ontario, there are 626 nursing homes. Some are private, some are public non-profit, but only SIX are run by municipal management boards. Cassellholme is one of the six.

In the rest of the province, nursing homes work with a budget, obtain donations and obtain provincial funding. Municipalities support some nursing homes in their area, but this is done on a voluntary basis.

The Municipal management board structure of Cassellholme means that 60% of the operating costs – and the rebuild costs – are automatically downloaded to the nine municipalities. They cannot argue or withdraw; the amounts can just be levied. This is unfair because municipalities everywhere else in the province – Toronto, Hamilton, Sudbury, Cornwall, and Thunder Bay – do not have this 60% expenditure downloaded to them. This creates an uneven playing field for Ontario residents.

Why must a taxpayer in North Bay pay 60% of the costs for a provincial health care facility, when the taxpayers in 95 percent of the rest of the province do not?

You might ask why our local politicians have not spoken of this.

The structure of the Board of Cassellholme is written into Ontario law and the majority of the members of the board must be elected officials from the involved municipalities. These board members must sign governance and confidentiality agreements stating that they must consider the interests of the Cassellholme Board above the interests of their municipal residents. By the very rules created by the provincial government, they cannot tell taxpayers that they are being put in jeopardy by a proposal of the Cassellholme Board.

My township, Calvin Township, has a closer affiliation to the non-profit nursing home in Mattawa, than it does to Cassellholme, but Calvin will be levied for the cost of the Cassellholme rebuild and certainly can’t support Mattawa as well.

Because of the way the calculations are made this levy will have a large impact on the residential taxes of residents. There are some who are struggling right now and this increase will bring some residents closer to losing their homes.

In addition, the township will have to borrow the funds necessary to pay the Cassellholme levy and this will use all of its available credit. Should the township need to replace the road grader or a snowplow, they will not have sufficient credit available.

We no longer have to guarantee the provincial funds, but we have to guarantee our 60%. We could be left in a situation where services are stopped and many people suffer – and this is because the Government of Ontario has failed to correct an unfair form of taxation regarding health care.

As a result, we have launched a petition asking that Calvin Township be removed from Schedule Four (The Cassellholme Board) and that we no longer contribute to Cassellholme. If this cannot be achieved, we request that the project not move forward because of the harm it would cause residents and seniors alike.

We are a small township of about 400 adult residents and so far 256 people have signed the petition. This is a strong majority and it shows that the people of Calvin have spoken.

I am surprised that the mayors have had the courage to speak out against this project as I know it is a difficult issue. It took a great deal of courage on their part. Most politicians would simply have let it pass and said nothing. Kudos to them all.

Richard Gould

Calvin Township