The Regional Municipality of York wants to trim the $18.4 million cost of running its long-term care homes — and has considered the idea of contracting them out.
Regional council discussed the tax burden of its two long-term care homes during an annual review of long-term care homes presented Sept. 5. Staff said they are trying to find more operational efficiencies through staffing, while continuing to advocate to the provincial government for a better long-term funding model.
Richmond Hill Mayor David West said that regardless of what the region does, the homes remain costly.
"I think we’re doing a great job looking into efficiencies and trying to trim the cost of this but, at the end of the day, I have no doubt the costs of this type of service are very expensive,” West said.
The province mandates regional municipalities to run at least one long-term care home. York Region currently operates two: the Newmarket Health Centre in Newmarket and the Maple Health Centre in Vaughan. The two have a combined 232 beds, with more than 500 on waitlists.
Staff have explored ideas to address the cost, with resident fees and provincial funding only accounting for about 65 per cent of the total operational fees. Acting commissioner of community and health services Lisa Gonsalves disclosed that they did examine the possibility of contracting the homes out and that it was a report previously delivered in closed session to council. But she said the region would still have to have oversight and be responsible for the homes and that the concept has not been proven well elsewhere.
“There could be some cost savings. However, the liability and oversight still remain with the region,” she said. “There are no municipalities that have contracted out. There have been some that have tried and actually had to take it back,” Gonsalves said.
The region is aiming to find cost savings in staffing, particularly with a mandate coming from the province to provide four hours of care for every resident by the end of March 2025.
General manager of paramedic and seniors service Chris Spearen said they want to implement "an optimized staffing model" that he said could save about a million between the two homes. However, staff have been protesting this change, which could result in less consistent schedules for workers with longer shifts.
Councillor Godwin Chan asked about the possibility of expanding York Region’s long-term care beds, given the demand. He also suggested partnering with a non-profit(s), as well as fundraising efforts with the public.
But Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said it would be costly and require at least a two per cent tax rate increase to fund a new home. He also said there are jurisdictional questions with this, as long-term care is largely under provincial jurisdiction.
“There’s waitlists for housing, there’s waitlists for other programs,” he said. “The funding formula is so unfavourable that it takes a very big tax burden for local taxpayers on something that should be spread across the provincial tax base.”
“This is a business that could be very costly to the Region of York,” Chair Wayne Emmerson said. “I'd be very cautious if we expand this portfolio. I think we still continue to look at how we can lease these out or contract them out to a certain degree because it is quite costly to us."
Still, resident satisfaction in the region’s long-term care homes is high, with 99 per cent of residents rating the homes as good or better this year, according to Spearen.
Editor's Note: The headline of this article has been changed to correct an error in the cost of operating the municipality's long-term care homes.
