A Wellington County councillor is trying to make his point about hospital donations after Erin town council approved spending $10,000 for hospital donations as part of its 2014 budget.
“We’ve launched our missile,” Mayor Lou Maieron said in a telephone interview with the Advertiser, referring to an upcoming debate at county council on a $9-million funding request from hospitals in Fergus, Mount Forest and Palmerston.
Erin council has agreed to divide $10,000 among hospitals outside the county, with only $700 earmarked for Groves Memorial Community Hospital in Fergus.
Maieron contends county money should not go toward new hospitals or hospitals undergoing renovations.
The $9 million request made to county council late last year has prompted considerable political discussion.
County council is expected to debate the request at its June meeting.
The request would see $5 million spent on the construction of a new Groves hospital and $4 million split between a new emergency room and ambulatory care facility at Louise Marshall Hospital in Mount Forest and an 11,000-square-foot health centre at Palmerston District Hospital.
Maieron and Erin county councillor Ken Chapman have made it known they oppose county money going to those hospitals because residents of the town seldom use any of the three facilities in Wellington County.
“It’s unfair we send money to a hospital that doesn’t serve our needs,” Maieron said. “I’m hopeful this will sway some county councillors to see the fairness in this.”
He said if the county approves a $9-million donation it would cost Erin $1.4 million.
“Of the $9 million it would pull $1.4 million out of Erin for hospitals we don’t use,” Maieron added. “Erin stepped up. We don’t have our own hospital.”
The $10,000 donation represents $1 for each resident of the municipality. The money will be divided between Headwaters Health Care Centre (HHCC) in Orangeville, which will get $5,000, Georgetown ($2,800), Guelph General ($1,500) and Groves ($700).
The money was divided based on a recent HHCC report that indicates 1,312 Erin residents or 42 per cent of the population used the Orangeville hospital, while 741 or 24% went to Georgetown, 354 or 11% to Guelph, and 201 or 6% to Fergus.
“It was well debated,” Maieron said of the decision to include the $10,000 in Erin’s budget. “It’s not a huge amount of money, but it’s more than any other municipality has contributed to their hospitals.”
Maieron said hospital funding should be the responsibility of the provincial government and not local municipalities.
County warden Chris White declined to comment directly on the donation from Erin council.
“My sense is the county is looking at it favourably,” he said of the upcoming vote by county council on the $9-million request.
“If there is funding I’d like to see it come from the county.”
The hospitals are expected to provide the county’s administration, finance and personnel committee with information on the request, including how the money will be spent, before the issue goes to county council for a vote.
