The Wingham Advance-Times, 1979-06-06, Page 1,
FIRST SECTION Wingi,am, Wednesday, June 6, 1979
0
M'-' 3�1 [Et iii
Winghtum deficit$98,000 over past year
budget was caused by a change in
the accounting procedure.
This is the first time the
auditors have charged the police
benefits package to the police
budget, he said, and that ac-
counted for the overrun. In other
years the benefits for all town
employees had been lumped
together into one area of the
budget.
The chief also noted that he has
no control over the salaries and
benefits portion of his budget,
which is negotiated by council
with the police association. He
said that in other areas the
department was under budget
and it should have shown a
A combination of mbtakes in
budgeting, overspending,
unexpected debt and failure to
bill for anticipated revenue ran
Wingham more than $88,000 into
the red in 1978.
This deficit compares to a
deficit of about $20,000 in 1977 and
a surplus of $7/,000 at the end of
1976.
Council officially learned of the
deficit when its accountant,
Brian McDhargey of Thorne
Riddell if Co., London, presented
the 1978 financial report during a
council meeting Monday night. In
the report he informed council it
had incurred a deficit of $88,201
during the year and listed a
number of major factors which
contributed to the deficit.
Spending on loan interest last
year amounted to almost $20,000
more than the $8,000 which had
been budgeted and the police
budget of $138,960 was overspent
by $13,640.
In other areas the town was
socked with an unexpected bill
for $23,040 for sewers which were
installed along Summit Drive in
1976. Apparently council had
expected the province to pick up
the whole cost of the sewer
construction and so the entry had
been carried on the books as
unfinanced capital outlay until
recently when it learned this
represents its share of the con-
struction costs.
Another $25,000 from impost
charges had been shown as
revenue in last year's budget but
never billed for, which left the
town with a shortfall by that
amount. The impost charges are
per unit fees levied against the
developers of new subdivipions•to
help the town with the cost of
maintaining services in them.
They included $3,000 for the
Remington subdivision, $10,000
for Maitland Estates and $12,000
for the Ma,=_suJx1ivision.
The final major factor listed by
Mr. McIlhargey as contributing
to the deficit was a draw down of
reserves in the amount of $16,913.
He explained that council had
charged equipment purchases
against the reserves which would
have wiped them out and so the
money was taken out of general
accounts instead.
When asked whether it would
Elston is named
interim warden
Bill Elston, reeve of Morris
Township, has been appointed
interim warden of Huron County
during the absence due to illness
of Warden Jack Tinney.
Mr. Tinney suffered a
gallbladder attack while at-
tending a health conference at
Timmins and had to be flown to
University Hospital, London, for
surgery. Fortunately Dr. Brian
Lynch, the county medical of-
ficer of health, was ac-
companying Mr. Tinney at the
conference and remained with
the warden until he was returned
to this area.
be bad to wipe out the reserves,
he said it would be "terrible".
The reserves, which help to
provide a cash flow for the town,
are none too high at present, he
said, and they should be allowed
to sit and grow for a couple of
years until the town can afford to
use them.
NOT CLEAR WHERE
THE MONEY WENT
There was little discussion of
the financial statement at the
council meeting. Mr. McIlhargey
noted he had already gone over it
with the finance committee and
so he didn't go over it in detail
with council.
Councillors had few questions
about the statement, although
several expressed concern over
how the deficit could be ex-
plained. Councillor Allan
Harrison said it has to be ex -
Accident claims
life of youth
A tragic car accident claimed
the life of a Belgrave youth on the
weekend. Daniel Lamont, 20, of
Jane Street, died when his car
left the road west of Clinton and
slammed into a hydro pole.
Provincial police at the
Goderich detachment report Mr.
Lamont was driving west on
County Road 13 at about 6 o'clock
Saturday morning when he failed
to negotiate a curve and the car
left the road and hit the pole.
He was alone in the car at the
time and the vehicle, a 1974 Nova,
was described as a complete
wreck.
GUELPH GRADUATE
Sandra Currie, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. John A. Currie
of RR 3, Wingham, graduated
with honors from the College
of Family and Consumer
Studies at the University of
Guelph. Convocation cere-
monies were held June 6 at
the University's War Mem-
orial Hall.
plained so that the average
person will understand it so
councillors won't get "4,000
phone calls" about the matter.
Finance committee Chairman
Tom Deyell said he would try to
send out some type of ex-
planation in the tax bills, which
are to go out this week.
Following the meeting Mr.
Deyell said he was surprised at
the size of the deficit- Out is
satisfied he knows where all the
money went. However -he found it
difficult to explain just where it
did go.
He explained the $19,755
overrun on loan interest
payments as a mistake in
budgeting, but it is not clear why
loan interest jumped to $27,755 in
1978 from $8,623 in MM.. ,
He said he wasn`f ' sig a what
factors were involved in the
police budget running almost
$14,000 over the estimates, but
thought it might be related to the
purchase of a new cruiser.
Councillor David Cameron, who
was chairman of the police
committee last year, was
similarly unsure just where the
money went, noting he no longer
has the police file.
Police Chief Robert Wittig was
able to cast some light on the
matter when, after .ferring to
the accounts, he reported the
apparent overspending in his
surplus rather than a deficit.
Although that explains why the
overspending showed up in the
police budget it is still less than
clear just what happened to the
money, which presumably was
spent in some other area of the
budget.
Mr. Deyell repeated he is
satisfied that the budget council
has set for this year will enable it
to cover the deficit and be out of
the red by the end of the year.
Several councillors have men-
tioned they are working on a new
accounting procedure which
should allow them to keep closer
tabs on spending and prevent
surprises such as this.
Gravel contract goes to- %'O"W'am& MUL"
wx
Following some debate
Wingham council decided
Monday night to award the 1979
contract for supply of gravel to
John Cox. This action came after
a motion to call for new tenders
was defeated in a close vote.
The contract had earlier been
given to Joe Kerr Ltd., which
submitted the low tender, but
was withdrawn when council
discovered his tender had been
delivered after the 4 p.m.
deadline. Council decided at that
time to consult its solicitors to see
whether it could call new tenders
or must accept the next lowest
one.
A letter to council from Murray
Elston of Crawford, Mill and
Davies informed it that since
calling tenders is only an offer it
is free to do either and con-
sequently Councillor David
Cameron, chairman of the public
works committee, recommended µ
- ;: &. He'pointed out that,
in his opinion, the purpose of
calling for tenders iS to get the
best price for the town.
However Councillor Allan
Hosp. annual
meeting to be
held in school
The annual meeting of the
Wingham and District Hospital
Association will be held in the
Wingham Public School, it was
announced this week.
The meeting, set for 8 p.m. on
June 21, will see the election of
members to the hospital's board
of governors as well as other
business such as a possible
review of some sections of the
bylaws.
The deadline for purchasing
memberships in the hospital
association to qualify for voting
privileges at the meeting was
June 6. Memberships are
available throughout the year at
the hospital office at a cost of one
dollar annually.
Harrison, another member of the
committee, vehemently opposed
calling for new tenders. He
declared that the town didn't do
anything wrong the first time and
it wouldn't be fair to ask anyone
to retender now that the prices
are known.
He also hinted there might be
lawsuits from the other two
parties who submitted tenders if
one of theirs isn't accepted and
added that "it won't be tendered
by a couple of parties" if new
tenders are called.
Reeve Joe Kerr was excused
from the meeting while the
matter was discussed and, in the
absence of Deputy Reeve Harold
Wild, the motion to call for new
benders produced a three -three
deadlock, forcing Mayor William
Walden to vote to break the tie.
After the defeat of that motion
Mr. Harrison made a motion that
the contract be awarded to Mr.
Cox, who had the next lowest
tender. This passed with three
councillors voting in favor and
three abstaining.
In other business at the
meeting council decided to defer
until next month any recon-
sideration of the property
standards bylaw it passed
recently. Mr. Walden suggested
each councillor should take home
STEPHEN LLOYD
Stephen Lloyd, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Don Lloyd of
Toronto, formerly of Wing -
ham, graduated May 25 from
Queen's University, King-
ston, with a Master's Degree
In Business Administration.
Stephen has accepted a posi-
tion with Zerox Co. of Ottawa.
He is a grandson of Mr. and
Mrs. C. W. Lloyd of Wing -
ham.
a copy of the bylaw and read it.
Mr. Cameron said he has already
read it but Councillor John
Bateson admitted he hadn't.
Mr. Bateson suggested council
should admit it made a mistake
in passing the bylaw and should
rescind the whole thing and start
over, taking out the things which
it doesn't intend to enforce, and
Mr. Kerr agreed. However Mr.
Harrison declared he doesn't
think council made a mistake in
passing the bylaw and this
viewpoint was supported by Mr.
Cameron and Mr. Deyell.
Mr. Cameron said he doesn't
favor taking out any sections of
the bylaw since that would be
tying the hands of the committee
Continued on Page 2
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MOST BADGES—Leanne Shaw, left, earned le badges In
the Brownie year which ended Monday and Leesa Ritchie
earned 16. They had the most badges for the year.
actricify.sales are almost $ 1 million
Wingham Public Utilitieswater in some other things as ' dary School will compete in a
many people. Though a lot of
fission took in nearly $1 contest for the best painting on a
Wingham people use town water
n in energy sales in 1978 Josephine Street fire hydrant.
to keep their lawns green during
water sales in the year The hydrants will be painted to
dry periods, the lady
,d $109,300. doesn't the students' liking shortly before
1978 financial statement water her own lawn. the centennial celebrations Aug.
presented at the com Ken Saxton, PUC manager, 1-6 and will be painted over in a
said if the commission had to set
)n's monthly meeting May solid color following the birthday
1 showed a net accumulated
sue for the waterworks
Dn of $88,466, up from
5 a year earlier.
he hydro section the total
ue of $1,018,874 exceeded
,tal expenditure of $978,886
9,998 for the year, down
the $62,303 comparable
for the 1977 financial year.
m 1978 the PUC spent $880,126
for electricity, up more than
$100,000 from the 1977 figure of
$763,929. When selling the elec-
tricity the public utility sold it for
$979,864.
The commission took no action
on a complaint by an unidentified
woman about the $20 charge for
filling swimming pools of at least
11 cubic metres, about 2,400
gallons.
The woman felt the charge for
the water in her pool is unfair
because she doesn't use as much
water rates based on how water
is used it would be impossible to
enforce. The PUC doesn't have
time to make sure people who say
they won't water their lawns
don't, he said.
Mr. Saxton said there are some
people who pay regular water
rates who don't have a swimming
pool, don't water their lawns and
some elderly people may be so
feeble they take few baths.
The special charge for
swimming pool owners was five
dollars until the commission
made the change two months
ago. Mr. Saxton said the old fee
wasn't enough to pay for the
water used and was hardly
enough to even pay for the extra
clerical work required to make
up the special bills.
Commissioner Rod Wraith
reported that selected art
students at F. E. Madill Secon-
party•
The commission agreed to
sponsor a band in the Aug. 4
centennial parade. If other
groups haven't already spon-
sored them, the PUC hopes to
sponsor either the Durham girls
or Seaforth band.
Health. ministry is told to
restore hospital funds
Mr. Justice R. G. Raynor of the
Ontario Supreme Court, has
ordered the Ontario Ministry of
Health to restore immediately
the budget funds for 25 beds
ordered closed at the Metropoli-
tan Hospital in Windsor.
The hospital has entered a sup-
reme court action against the
ministry for the same purpose,
which will not be heard in the
court for some weeks. However,
evidence submitted to the judge
indicated, in his opinion, that an
emergency situation exists in
Windsor and the funds must be
made available at once.
The Windsor case is interesting
here because the Wingham and
District Hospital board has given
serious consideration to similar
court action for the restoration of
$168,000 removed from its budget
for failing to close 14 beds as
ordered by the ministry.
An emergency situation does
not exist in Wingham at the pre-
sent time, but the full impact of
the budget shortfall will be felt in
January, February and March of
next year when the local hospital
is usually filled to capacity, due
to high percentage of elderly
residents and the prevalence of
winter diseases.
mittee
t n �n com-
Dr.t sat r em comes oos�asecu o, Dyer quoted truni an Act of Legisla-
ture to the effect that it would be illegal for
the hospital to optout of OHIP and he was
met with jeers from one member of the
committee who termed such an in-
terpretation of the act as ridiculous in face
of the fact that the ministry has taken no
action to constrain the dozens of doctors in
the province who have already opted out of
the plan and are billing -directly.
Jack Riddell (Lib. — Huron) said he is
aware of the fact that the Wingham hospi-
tal has been operating efficiently for many
years and criticized the ministry for its
about-face on its commitments to the
hospital.
Hugh O'Neil (Lib. — Quinte) said he
thought the ministry of health should have
attended the meeting and asked if the
ministry is prepared to change its mind on
the bed closure issue, a question which, in
his opinion, should be addressed ,to the
minister personally.
Dr. Dyer replied that no hospital was
ordered to close beds, but simply told how
many beds were declared surplus. This
reply elicted evident contempt on the part
of several committee members.
Michael Breaugh (NDP — Oshawa) the
party's health critic said, "i think these
people in Wingham have been had. i have
heard changes in (the ministry's) stance
right here this afternoon. it Is evident the
people of Wingham are right."
By Barry Wenger
for necessary changes in the hospital's
The question of bed closures at the Wing-
physical structure if the HSO plan was
ham and District General Hospital was
carried through.
brought before a new and different forum
CAME TO WiNGHAM
last week when delegates from the local
Two weeks later Dr. Dyer and several of
board again presented their case at
his assistants met with members of the
Queen's Park.
board and the citizens' action committee
Early this year the local hospital was
in Wingham, presumably for a discussion
ordered by the Ministry of Health to dose
of details of the HSO proposal. At that
out 14 beds as an economy measure.
meeting the ministry spokesman denied
Failing to do so by the required date, the
that designated chronic care beds could be
hospital board was informed that a budget
used in cases of necessity for active treat -
penalty of $168,000 would be charged
ment. He also rejected any assumption
against the monies forthcoming from the
that the ministry would assist in financing
Ontario Hospital Insurance Plan for the
changes or additions to the hospital
fiscal year.
building. The number of beds to be allowed
Following an angry public meeting and
for chronic care was cut from 14 to seven.
almost weekly meetings of the board a
Tuesday of last week the representatives
local delegation met with Health Minister
of the board and the action committee
Dennis Timbrell in Toronto six weeks ago
were back at Queen's Park to present
in an attempt to clarify the situation. At
additional points to their original brief, but
that meeting the minister and his assistant
this time found they faced a different
deputy, Dr. Allan Dyer, asked the board to
tribunal.
designate the 14 active treatment beds as
STANDING COMMITTEE
chronic care accommodation and then use
Because of the increasing number of
them for active treatment as needed.
hospitals inthe province which are protest -
It was also urged that the Wingham
ing the ministry's bed cuts (some 26 at that
board seriously consider the formation of a
point), the entire subject of active bed
Health Services Organization (HSO),
closures has been placed before the
under which an entirely new system of
Legislature's Standing Committee on
health and medical care would be set up.
Social Development, chaired by Murray
The delegation left the meeting under the
Gaunt, MPP, Huron -Bruce.
distinct impression that large scale fin-
After presenting the addenda to the ori-
ancing would be provided by the ministry
Ignal brief, Jack Hodgins, Wingham and
ZM
District Hospital board chairman, re-
sponded to questions put by various mem-
bers of the committee, which includes
representation from all three parties in the
legislature. Norman Hayes, executive
director of the hospital, provided statis-
tical information required by the ques-
tions.
Assistant deputy minister Dr. Dyer was
the only spokesman for the health minis-,
try. Mr. Timbrell did not attend.
Wingham was the first hospital to ap-
pear before the standing committee
although at that time 25 other hospitals
had asked for hearings.
Russell Ramsay, (PC — Sault Ste.
Marie) was the first committee member to
direct questions to the delegation. When he
asked about average length of stay in the
Wingham hospital and heard that it was 6.3
days he observed that that was a com-
mendable figure, compared with the aver-
age for the province of eight days. Asked
whether or not chronic care beds are used
for active treatment, Mr. Hayes said they
are not.
Mr. Ramsay then addressed Dr. Dyer on
the matter of a 10 -bed "cushion" per-
mitted smaller hospitals, over and above
the ministry's formula of slightly less than
four beds per thousand of population in the
area served by any one hospital. Dr. Dyer
said that the cushion has been provided for
this year only and refused to say whether
or not the same cushion would be per-
mitted in future years. He said that no
decision had been made by the ministry in
this regard.
Mr. Ramsay also wanted to know
whether the Wingham hospital has plans to
bring in efficiency consultants as re-
commended by the ministry. Mr. Hayes
replied that such a survey will be done by
the Ontario Hospital Association later this
year, probably in September.
MICHAEL CASSiDY
Michael Cassidy (NDP — Ottawa Cen-
tre) and leader of his party, proceeded
with detailed questioning not only of the
Wingham spokesmen, but also of Dr. Dyer.
He also wanted to know whether the 10 -bed
cushion would be in effect next year and
when the ministry representative said he
could not say, Mr. Cassidy wanted to know
how small hospitals could possibly plan for
future services when that information is
not available.
Pursuing the question of cost savings,
Mr. Cassidy asked Dr. Dyer what savings
would be effected by bed closures. The
reply was that fixed costs would remain
the same; savings would be created only
by reduction of staff. Thus the saving
would be about 10 per cent of present costs
where these beds are concerned.
Mr. Hayes said that admissions to the
Wingham hospital would have to be re-
duced by 255 per cent to save the $168,000
which has already been pruned from the
hospital's budget by ministry. (To clarify:
the ministry's penalty was based on a cost
of $12,000 per bed for 15 beds, but the ac-
tual saving would be more in the range of
$1,200 per bed.)
Asked by Mr. Cassidy if the Wingham
hospital could maintain its present
standard of health care under the reduced
budget Mr. Hayes said, "We don't think
so."
When Mr. Cassidy asked whether the
Wingham delegation was originally told
that 14 beds designated for chronic care
could be used for active treatment if
needed, Dr. Dyer denied it.
in answer to Dr. Dyer's statement that
Wingham does not have a chronic care
program, Mr. Hayes outlined in detail the
facilities and services which are provided
in the Wingham hospital and nearby nur-
sing homes and by home care services.
THE ALTERNATIVES
When Mr. Cassidy asked what the Wing -
ham hospital board is prepared to do if the
ministry refuses to restore its budget
funds, Mr. Hodgins outlined the alter-
natives which may be taken. The first, he
said, would be to opt out of the OHIP plan
and bill patients directly thus leaving them
to recover a portion of the bills from CHiP
on their own initiative. Second and least
desirable on Wingham's part would be
court action against the ministry
I