“I feel good.”
That was the reaction from Rod Ward, the Mayor of Armour Township who also chairs the Almaguin Highlands Health Council after learning all area municipalities have committed to their share of a $967-million hospital project.
The project will see one hospital built in Huntsville and another in Bracebridge to replace aging healthcare facilities in both communities. Both hospitals will have an emergency department but each will specialize in specific services to reduce redundancy.
When the project was first hatched, the Ministry of Health said it would commit to the project if the communities in Almaguin Highlands and the District of Muskoka agreed to pay for part of the build.
In March 2019, the twin builds were estimated to cost a total of $ 561 million. However, throw in COVID which delayed construction and created supply chain issues followed by rising interest rates and inflation, and the cost ballooned to $ 722 million before climbing still further to the present $967-million.
As their share, the municipalities were asked to account for about 23 per cent of the project which worked out to $225-million.
Despite the huge spike, the drive to convince the Muskoka and Almaguin communities to agree to their respective shares began early in 2023. Ward says all the commitments had to be achieved before the end of the year otherwise the region risked losing both hospitals.
“If there was no (regional) commitment, the project would have fallen off the table or it would have stalled and the province would move onto another hospital project,” Ward said.
But despite the sticker shock, over the spring and summer municipal councils in Muskoka and Almaguin began to commit their share of the required funds. Ward said a short time ago 96 per cent of the local share was achieved which worked out to $ 216 million, only $ 9 million short of the objective. Ward says there is a high degree of confidence among all parties in the region that the remaining local share will be committed.
For the communities in the Almaguin Highlands, their share is about $ 12 million to be raised over 12 years.
However, Ward says about $2.5 million will be held back and applied to some form of healthcare services in Almaguin while $ 9.5 million is earmarked for the twin hospital build.
Although the commitments are in place Ward said now the heavy work begins.
“We're just starting,” he said. “We can't just sit back and assume the money has been raised because it hasn't.”
Ward says despite the council commitments in Almaguin, it will be necessary to remind each council every year of their commitment. He adds the commitment may span three councils over the next 12 years.
Ward says all the councils face a unique situation because although the commitments are in place, the municipalities won't be required to ante up their actual shares until construction on the hospitals is “substantially complete.”
“So it's years away before they actually collect the money,” he said. “But you also want to set aside the money each year and not wait until the last minute.”
Ward said moving forward it may be prudent for the respective town councils to show their local hospital share commitment as a line item each year in their municipal budget “so down the road the councils aren't scrambling”.
Asked if he believes a future council may opt out of their commitment, Ward said this is always possible, but he believes it's unlikely since some of the money will have been raised in preceding years.
Ward says the fact all the municipalities and organizations hit the local share target before the end of the year shows how serious they are about seeing the hospitals get built.
He believes the Ministry of Health was “a bit surprised by how quickly we got the local share together.”
Once final site approvals are agreed to, Ward says the design stage can begin and that will be a lengthy process and will take years. It's hoped construction contracts can be awarded by 2029 and the twin builds will take several years.
From an economic viewpoint, Ward is hopeful contractors in Almaguin will be able to contribute toward the construction with their skilled labour force. Once complete, the majority of the hospital employees will live in Bracebridge and Huntsville. But Ward hopes some also make Almaguin home.
“We'd like to position ourselves as maybe a little cheaper alternative,” he said, adding the cost of living is lower in Almaguin than in Muskoka. “The employees can come a little further north with their families and work in Huntsville or Bracebridge.” The commute to Huntsville from the Armour area is about 25 minutes and around 40 minutes to Bracebridge.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the North Bay Nugget. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
