PPH caught up in tax dollar shell game
Federal, provincial, and municipal governments and now Peterborough Public Health still don’t understand that there is only one taxpayer. I have attended the last two monthly board of health meetings. The main topic of discussion is how to pay for existing and new health protection and promotion programs, from mainly static funding sources.
In the 2019 budget the MoHLTC (Ministry of Health and Long Term Care) provides about 68 per cent of the funding. The surrounding communities, including First Nations, contribute about another 26 per cent. Fees and other revenues contribute 4.6 per cent, leaving 1.5 per cent unfunded. PPH proposes to increase the County, City and First Nations contributions to 30 per cent over the next three years starting with an 8.3 per cent increase in the 2019 budget. That means the increased revenue will come from property tax which may result in reduced city services.
This is just another download to a different tax collector but going after the same taxpayer. It is not just we poor citizens switching money around from the provincial pocket to the municipal pocket.
No, it is new money coming from our ever decreasing net income. Ironically PPH is indirectly contributing to the cause of the very conditions that are in their mandate like addressing health inequities and poverty reduction.
Next year PPH will be celebrating 130 years in the community so there is definitely a need for their health services. It is time to move into the 21st century and utilize modern tools, technologies, and business practices that allows for a dynamic and efficient approach to new and changing health issues like cannabis legalization. In my opinion Ontarians all have the same health issues and needs; it just varies by degrees depending on the community, age and income status.
This means common program infrastructure can be the same across all health units and managed at the LHIN (Local Health Integration Network) or Ministry level. As a rule the MoHLTC relies on the Board of Health to ensure compliance to the Health Promotions and Protection Act, and expenditures are “reasonable.” There are no regular audits from the Auditor General’s office. I suggest a line by line analysis and audit of the 2019 budget with the purpose of doing more with less funding. Ask the board where they have tucked away their substantial legal expenses!
PPH was incorporated as a registered charity in 2010. The PPH board is entertaining a proposal to leverage the PPH charitable status into a full-time fund raising entity! The goal is to morph into a separate foundation. How philanthropic at the taxpayers expense!
PPH must realize it cannot have all the answers and provide for all the populations health issues all the time. Should they try and do everything with a less than an effective outcome, or do they try and make a difference and focus on what they do well, or mandated? This is not a problem of a funding issue, it is a spending issue.
Dave Schofield, Cindy Street