Jennifer Smith

Halton Healthcare Services made a presentation to Council last night to update everyone on the status of the Milton District Hospital expansion.  It was very informative, and clarified not only the situation with the Province but also the next steps that need to be taken by this council as well as the next.


The urgent need for the hospital expansion is perhaps the one issue which unites every single resident, councillor and candidate in Milton. No one who has spent any time in the emergency room recently or who has been forced to travel to Oakville for even the most minor procedures would deny that need.  And as Colin Best pointed out last night, with Milton continuing to grow at the rate of five families per day, every year we are forced to wait makes the situation that much more dire.

But we know that already.

I've been hesitant to blog about the situation with the hospital because there has been very little original to say on the subject.  Yes, it must be expanded. Yes, we must wait for approval and funding from the province. Yes, we must continue to apply pressure.

However, we have now reached a point where important decisions need to be made.  Here's the situation:

- After much delay, the Province of Ontario will be undergoing a 10-year capital review process starting in 2011, in which they will select and prioritize capital projects, including hospital construction, for the next decade.  They were going to start this year but have delayed in order to save money to reduce the deficit.

- The Province will be announcing projects for the first 2 years of this 10-year plan in next year's budget. It is imperative that Milton be on that list, because even if we got the approval today it would take at least 5-6 years for the expansion to be completed.  By that time our population will be well over 100,000.  If we have to wait for the next round, our hospital services will simply collapse.

- The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure is taking the lead in this process, with other ministries including the Ministry of Health each contributing their own prioritized 'wish lists'.  This preliminary phase started about a month ago, and will continue for the next two months.

- The Ministry of Health is looking for several things in assembling its priority list including evidence of support from the community, support from the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), and a commitment from local government to pay it's share of the cost.  The Friends of Milton Hospital has supplied the first with the tens of thousands of postcards signed by local supporters, and the Mississauga/Halton LHIN has sent a letter to the Ministry urging them to make Milton's hospital expansion it's highest priority.

The financial commitment for the 'Local Share' is problematic because there is no way to establish even an estimate of the total cost until we get a commitment from the Province.  And even if we could come up with a number, it would be unwise to reveal it at this stage.  The Halton Healthcare representative likened it to walking into a car dealership and saying, "Here's how much I have to spend - what kind of deal will you give me?"

What we do know is that the municipality is expected to contribute 10% of the 'bricks and mortar' cost, and 100% of the equipment, including everything from MRIs to bedpans.  This typically works out to about 20%-30% of the end total.  For a rough comparison, costs for the Joseph Brant Memorial redevelopment project in Burlington are being estimated at $300 million, with their council recently committing to a local share of $60 million.

Councillor Cindy Lunau, who has been extremely active on this file and who had brought HHS to council last night via a special motion, was prepared to make a second motion that would have amounted to a commitment to make a financial commitment.  It read:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Town of Milton will endeavour to assist Halton Healthcare Services in raising its local share component of the costs of the expansion and redevelopment of Milton District Hospital;

AND FURTHER THAT the Town of Milton will research and identify potential funding mechanisms to assist Halton Healthcare Services in raising its local share including but not limited to:

a) requesting the Ontario government to reinstate development charges that would contribute to funding the cost of the expansion and redevelopment program; and
b) including a special tax levy on the municipal property bill in the 2011 budget considerations;

AND FURTHER THAT the value of the Town of Milton’s contribution to Halton Healthcare Services local share commitment will be determined once planning for the expansion and redevelopment of Milton District Hospital has advanced to the point where there is agreement with the Province of Ontario.

Apparently the notion of a tax levy caused some concern, so it was agreed to defer debate on the motion until the next regular Council meeting on June 28th.  Until then, both Town staff and members of the public are encouraged to weigh in on the matter, especially regarding options for funding mechanisms.  One additional idea has already been put forward, which is to use the GTA pooling funds that are being redirected back to the Region and the Town but are still being collected.  Those funds are currently being used to chip away at the Town's $10 million infrastructure deficit that I believe was incurred when we started borrowing money from Mattamy to upgrade our roads.


After the meeting, a reporter asked me what I thought a reasonable dollar figure would be for the Town of Milton to contribute to the hospital expansion.  My response was, "Whatever it takes".

That might seem a bit simplistic, but there can be no other answer.  Of course we must be cost conscious as we develop this project, and of course we must be creative in finding funding mechanisms that will lessen the blow and spread the cost as fairly as possible.

But in the end it will cost what it costs, and we must do whatever must be done.  Because balking at the cost just because it will probably involve some form of tax levy will cause the entire process to grind to a halt, and that is simply not an option.

Even now, delaying passage of Ms. Lunau's motion may have put us in jeopardy.  As I mentioned, Burlington has already made an even more concrete commitment, and it's unclear what the likelihood of  both projects being approved will be.

The bottom line is, the hospital expansion will be expensive, and whether the money comes from the Town, the Region, the Province, the developers, or some combination of all of the above (and yes, even the slots), it will ultimately come from us, the residents of Milton.


Just to put these huge sums into perspective, our current population is approaching 90,000 and will most certainly be over 100,000 by the time construction is underway.  If the local share turns out to be around $60 million, and if that cost was spread over the six years it's likely to take, and if every penny of that cost had to be paid directly out of our pockets (which it certainly would not), it would work out to $100 per year for six years for every man, woman and child in Milton.  I would guess that the real figure will be closer to 1/4 to 1/3 of that.


As several people pointed out last night, it's unfair that the Province is making us jump through hoops to adhere to their timetable while they are free to delay and delay, but it is what it is and we must jump through their hoops if we are to get what we need.  Whining and delaying will only make approval that much more unlikely - and, if granted, more expensive.

Time to show some political courage.  Time to put up or shut up.  Time to ask, what's your hospital worth to you?

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MORE COUNCIL NOTES:

Further to this rather long post, there were a couple of other items on last night's agenda I wanted to mention.  First, a motion by Greg Nelson, apparently supported by residents, to allow parking on the north side of Queen Street was defeated three to seven (only Nelson, Day and Best in favour - Boughton spoke against). This was due largely to opposition from the Fire Chief who convincingly illustrated how difficult parked cars would make it to set up an aerial truck with its stabilizing 'out-riggers' deployed on such a narrow street.

My question would have been, why would you need an aerial truck on a street full of two-storey houses? But then of course, it wasn't my motion.

Then there was Rick Day's infamous motion, which you may have heard about and which I encourage you all to read here.  I'm not going to get into that too much right now because a) I'm not running in Ward 1, and b) the Mayor thankfully put a stop to it even before it was read, ruling it 'out of order' because it went beyond Council's jurisdiction.  I will say how pleased I was to see an absolutely packed gallery full of proud Miltonians, old and new, ready to argue against this thing.

Mr. Day has gained a reputation as something of a court jester on Council, but this isn't funny any more.  Not funny at all.  Please, if you know anybody who lives in Ward 1 (the southeast rural ward), pass the link along to them.  They have a right to know.
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UPDATES:

The Town of Milton has removed Mr. Day's motion from their website (updated update: it's just been moved to here).  Happily, I had already downloaded it and have now posted it here.  Also, the Halton Compass has a front page story (written before the council meeting), which quotes large segments of the motion and accompanying essay, and includes a written response from the Halton Multicultural Council.  Check Jan Mowbray's blog for more responses.

On the issue of aerial fire trucks on Queen Street, I put the question out there and have actually received an answer!  Apparently the aerial trucks are preferred for narrow streets because they allow the firefighters to hose down the blaze from a safer distance. Fair enough. I'm glad I asked.