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Hospital CEO says project can't afford three-month delay n 3 · Friday, February 26, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Continued from page 1 Under a proposed funding agreement, the Town would begin paying the $200 million in 2015. The estimated tax impact of such a funding contribution would begin at $15 per year per $100,000 of assessment in 2015, increasing to $35 per year per $100,000 of assessment over 30 years. Burton said he has heard from hundreds of residents since the Town began its public consultation campaign regarding the hospital issue in January. The dominating message has been, `Be careful how you spend our money because we are going to be paying for this hospital for a very long time.' "I am really concerned that council and staff can't even answer the public's questions about the costs because final costs haven't yet been determined," said Burton. "This is a serious flaw in the province's funding process." Halton Healthcare Services' President and CEO John Oliver said he was surprised by Burton's statements and pointed out a project delay of three months could have serious repercussions for the hospital project. "We have to keep this project on schedule. The best-case scenario (if there is a three month delay) is that five years from now we are three months delayed in getting into the new hospital," said Oliver. "We are very concerned if we miss the schedule because Infrastructure Ontario has all of these big projects scheduled to be launched and there are projects that follow us. So we don't know what kind of delay is going to come. It could be much more than what the mayor is asking for." Oliver also voiced concerns that if the project is delayed the four large consortiums, which have shown interest in building the hospital, might lose confidence and pull out. Oliver also sees a three-month delay for getting into the new hospital as significant. "We don't think a three-month delay is even tenable five years from now. We're going to be so dramatically in need of the new hospital by then," he said. "Today at the Oakville site we are out of room. We are routinely at certain times of year having to care for people in stretchers in hallways. Today we need a new MRI and a new CT to deal with the volumes that we are getting. Today we need a new operating room. Today we need an expanded ER. We are today parking staff offsite and busing them from offsite locations to the hospital. There are lots of jobs for nurses out there, why would you work at a hospital where you have to be bused to work?" While Oliver has been able to say that the Town's $200-million contribution could be used to help cover the hospital's non-eligible construction costs or costs associated with the purchase of the clinical equipment, he said he cannot give detailed breakdown of exactly how the $200 million will be spent. Oliver said these kinds of details will not truly be known until all the bids for the hospital are in and the negotiations have been finalized. Halton Healthcare Services expects to have this information around May of 2011. "There will be another council motion required a year from now to finalize that town support once the final costs are known," said Oliver. "So what we're asking for now is an endorsement up front, but there will be a final round of negotiations with the Town when the final costs are known. Our understanding is that because of the economic conditions globally that the costs of these projects are dropping and we're hoping and anticipating that we can go back to council and say, `We don't need all that we asked for.'" What happens if Halton Healthcare Services does not get Oakville's $200 million? "To the best of my understanding of the Ministry of Health's approach to this is, if the Town says `No' this project does not progress," said Oliver. "It stops." While many acknowledge the need for a new hospital and do not want to see the project stopped numerous questions still need to be answered before they can fully get on board. Ward 5 Councillors Jeff Knoll and Marc Grant have sent Oliver a letter featuring 18 questions they hope will be answered on March 1. The questions ask things like `What capital assets/equipment/furnishings are being moved from the current site to the new one and what is the value of that? Has that been deducted from the local share?' and `The Foundation ($60 million) and the Hospital Auxiliary ($3 million) have both made commitments to raise a large portion of the local share for the new hospital. What are their plans and timelines for achieving their goals and who makes up the difference if they are not successful?' Burton also has questions and while he acknowledged the provincial government is committing significant money to the proposed hospital, (100 per cent of the planning and design costs, 90 per cent of the eligible construction costs and 90 per cent of the costs associated with building equipment) he wants to sit down with provincial officials to discuss how costs were determined. "We owe it to the residents of Oakville who would be facing annual property tax increases for the next 30 years to pay for this hospital to take a little bit more time to make sure we reach a fair solution," said Burton. The council meeting on Monday will proceed as scheduled during which staff will report to council the results of the public consultation campaign. During this meeting council will be faced with the decision of approving the $200-million contribution, rejecting it or postponing the decision to another date. 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