Town wants option on existing hospital property Continued from page 1 3 · Thursday, April 8, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com 1, 2012 along with a subsequent and timely financial close. · That any savings or reduction in the local share plan derived through the Request for Proposal process and/or changes in the capital cost share between HHS and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care be deducted from the Town's portion of the local share first. · That HHS and the Town of Oakville enter into an agreement regarding the disposition of the existing 14-acre hospital property, which includes an option for the transfer of the property to the Town of Oakville. The Town has also asked HHS to provide council with full disclosure of financial information on a confidential basis, so it can see the final local share contribution at the conclusion of the bidding process for the new hospital. As with previous council meetings about the hospital issue, a number of delegations are registered to speak at Tuesday's meeting, but because of other issues before council there was only time to hear from one before the conclusion of the meeting. Additional delegations were heard at a special council meeting held last night (past Oakville Beaver press time). The issue has been a controversial one as committing to a $200-million contribution would have a property tax impact on residents. Exactly what that increase will be is still up in the air, but one payment scenario would see an escalation in property taxes from $15 per year per $100,000 of assessment in 2015 to $35 per year per $100,000 of assessment over 30 years. During his delegation, Halton Healthcare Services President and CEO John Oliver faced questions from a number of councillors, including Ward 6 Councillor Max Khan, who spoke about the need for guarantees Oakville will get what it pays for, if it decides to pay. "If our constituents are paying $200 million, they are going to want improved services," said Khan. "I want certainty, can you say that we will have two MRIs or three CT scans on opening day if we get funding." Oliver said he could say that and confirmed there would be 457 beds in the new hospital when it opens, although not all would be operational. "There will be at least a three-year ramping up. You can't go from 310 (number of beds generally running at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital) beds to 457 beds on a weekend," said Oliver. "The patients don't materialize that quickly." While the goal is to have 457 beds open and operational three years after opening the hospital, Oliver said he could not guarantee that because negotiations are still taking place with the Ministry of Health, which decides how quickly the allotments come during the ramping up period. "They would want to assess the demand we are showing in those first years as we open up," he said. For Khan this was not sufficient. "I don't think that I can commit to something without going back to my constituents and giving them a certain amount of certainty about what's going to happen if we give this money," he said. Oliver said that with such a large amount of the project being funded by the Province (100 per cent of the planning and design costs associated with the hospital's construction, 90 per cent of the eligible construction costs and 90 per cent of the costs associated with building equipment) extreme care has been taken in determining exactly what Oakville needs in a hospital and, as such, it is unlikely drastic changes will occur. Oliver has argued the new hospital is needed to accommodate the growing population of Oakville. Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 12pm-4pm Inform the discussion. www.transcanada.com/oakville/therightchoiceforontario