The 10 municipalities that form the Almaguin Highlands Health Council are being asked to consider four options to ease the Burk’s Falls Medical Centre's deficit.
Burk's Falls Mayor Chris Hope said an ad hoc approach has been used in the past, with the village, which owns the facility, asking surrounding municipalities for money to eliminate deficits from any given year.
Hope has said in the past the surrounding communities have donated funds, but there are times when some haven't and that’s when the deficit falls on Burk’s Falls taxpayers to shoulder.
Armour Mayor Rod Ward, who also chairs the health council, acknowledged the current approach to the medical centre deficits remains ad hoc and is hopeful the suggested options can create a permanent solution.
In the meantime, Ward says it was agreed that Burk’s Falls would calculate last year’s deficit numbers so the health council has real operating loss numbers to work with when providing help.
Ward says between 2019 and 2023, the nine partner municipalities, excluding Burk’s Falls, directed about $100,000 to the medical centre.
Additionally, Armour, Ryerson, Burk's Falls, Perry and Magnetawan, which are part of the Almaguin Highlands Family Health Team's catchment area, contributed $70,000 directly to the family health team to help cover renovation costs at the 150 Huston St. building.
There is a general consensus among the nine partner municipalities that some formula is needed to help Burk’s Falls with its health centre deficits given that residents across the Highlands use the facility.
Ward says Option 1 is a percentage-based calculation where all 10 municipalities, including Burk’s Falls, each cover 10 per cent of each year’s operating loss.
Using $30,000 as an example of an operating loss, Ward said this would mean each municipality would contribute $3,000 toward the medical centre’s deficit.
The immediate problem with this model, Ward said, is Sundridge, Strong and Joly already support their own medical centre, raising the question of whether it is fair to ask these three municipalities to further support a second medical facility with more money
The second concern is asking the very small municipalities to contribute the same dollar amount as the larger communities which have access to more money simply because they have a larger tax base.
Option 2 calls for the calculations to be based on assessments.
However, in this instance, it was pointed out that because the assessments vary greatly from one community to the next, this model results in very wide spreads when working out the overall percentage share of each municipality.
For example, Magnetawan, Armour, Perry, Kearney and Strong have the five highest assessments.
Combined, they would be on the hook for about 67 per cent of the medical centre’s deficit, leaving the other five municipalities to split the remainder.
The third option bases the deficit calculation on the number of households, an approach Ward said is similar to how the OPP determines calls for service fees in Ontario.
In this scenario, communities like Magnetawan, Perry, Kearney, Armour and Strong would again pay the lion’s share of the deficit — about 73 per cent — because they have the greatest number of households.
These large differences prompted Ward to say “It’s a dog’s breakfast” when the health council community members met in Perry Township Dec. 4 to discuss the health centre deficit.
The fourth option would maintain the status quo, employing the ad hoc approach already in use.
Ward said he added this as an option fully recognizing it was a model that would be of no interest to Burk’s Falls.
Under this approach, Burk’s Falls would provide its operating losses to the member municipalities and then using either Option 1, 2 or 3, each municipality would decide on a voluntary basis to help Burk’s Falls with the medical building’s deficit.
However, the Dec. 4 meeting produced a fifth option.
Perry Mayor Norm Hofstetter asked about using a patient count, where the formula is based on the number of patients from each community using the medical centre.
Hofstetter suggested this possibility because, under the other options, communities like his and Magnetawan consistently pay a very large portion of the deficit.
Ward welcomed Hofstetter’s suggestion and the municipalities are being asked to also consider this as an option.
At the moment, there is no additional space at the medical centre which would increase the facility’s revenue and help with the deficit.
However, it was noted Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC), which provides X-ray and blood work services to patients, currently doesn’t pay any rent to the medical centre — an arrangement Hope said goes back many years.
When the medical centre operated under the umbrella of the Huntsville Hospital, a condition to continue to provide X-ray and blood work services was that MAHC would not be charged any rent.
The free leasing arrangement has not been revisited over the ensuing years because Hope said Burk’s Falls had no choice in the matter.
“If we asked (about the rent), we were going to lose the service,” Hope told the health council.
“We were not in a good position.”
In response to a question from a health council member whether now’s the time for the health council to revisit the rent arrangement, Hope said “Amen, that’s a great idea.”
Ward said he believes MAHC will be receptive to the notion of beginning to pay rent and Hofstetter added “It’s not like we’re talking about millions of dollars.”
Ward indicated he would follow up on the rent discussion with MHAC.
Regarding all the options presented, Ward said they will need adjustments and that’s why he wants the respective town councils to discuss them at future meetings.
For his part, Mayor Chris Hope says that Burk’s Falls appreciates that the health council’s members support helping with the health centre’s annual deficit.
But Hope adds there’s another issue in play — he said it’s Burk’s Falls’ belief that direct, annual health care infrastructure support funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health is long overdue.
He says in Almaguin, each municipality covers the cost of the local healthcare buildings and facilities with no consistent funding from the province.
It’s the mayor’s hope that the surrounding Almaguin communities come to share this position.
“We need to press the province further, as a group, towards a long-term health care infrastructure funding solution,” Hope said.
“It’s a funding solution that serves all our communities.”
Hope said the question of provincial funding is one Burk’s Falls will raise with Muskoka-Parry Sound MPP Graydon Smith in the near future.
He said what’s needed for Almaguin residents is consistent health care funding, not the “crazy quilt of various funding initiatives” that now exist.
What’s missing in the Almaguin Highlands, Hope added, is the central administration Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare is able to provide in Muskoka District.
“This makes it difficult for our municipal councils to plan future healthcare funding strategies, particularly in terms of buildings and facilities,” Hope said.
“The entire framework is unforgivably ad hoc.”
Hope says Burk’s Falls has set a major objective for 2025.
He said the village would like to invite Premier Doug Ford to visit the community to talk about how the province can once again be a direct partner with healthcare infrastructure funding in the Highlands.
Hope said it’s his understanding the premier understands the many challenges the north faces when trying to maintain small community hospitals and health care centres.
“So, a personal visit from him would be the perfect opportunity to get ongoing infrastructure funding across the Almaguin Highlands back on the government's radar.”
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
