At their regular monthly meeting in May the Board of the Sunrise Health Region dealt with their budgets.
The good news came when looking back at the 2014-’15 budget numbers. The Region actually managed to post a very modest surplus of $70,000.
The small surplus came as a bit of surprise considering the Region has run deficits in the million dollar range the past couple of budgets, and appeared headed to the same thing for many months through 2014-’15.
But then the province sent a cheque for $3 million to address some of the shortfalls in funding from the coffers, and that allowed the Region to balance the budget including $2,010,851 in order to cover mortgage and energy renewal payments.
If the provincial dollars are now maintained to include the $3 million the Region has a much more legitimate shot at keeping their budget balanced.
It was rather clear with a consistent shortfall within the Region in recent years was as much a shortfall in provincial dollars to cover local programming needs as it was bad decisions at the Sunrise board table.
And, in terms of expenses Lorelei Stusek, VP of Corporate Services with Sunrise told the regular monthly meeting of the Board costs have been trimmed over the years.
“The cost curve has been trending down in general,” she said.
The new funding levels have allowed the Sunrise Health Authority to approve a plan for a balanced operating budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
The budget consists of revenues totalling $221,180,657, with operating expenditures of $219,118,250, with $2,062,407 held for replacement reserves and repayment of mortgages and loans.
The local Board has limited wiggle room when it comes to its operating budget considering compensation costs continue to be the largest expenditure for the health region and account for 77 per cent of total costs. Most of the wage costs are established through Union contracts established in negotiation with the province, not the local authority.
Add in established costs, such as utilities, and the discretionary dollars are a small part of a large dollar budget.
It is the same situation when the Board looks at investing in capital expenditures.
At the same May meeting the Board approved more than $3 million in capital expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2016.
Three million is a modest amount when it comes to construction, and is a small portion of the needs identified within the Region.
Stusek said when the initial process began managers across the Region submitted requests for more than $14 million in projects.
“It’s been a real struggle to put this all together with limited dollars,” she told the meeting
But, with limited funding sources for capital dollars, the local Board is left band aiding situations across a large region, and little more.
The local Health Board often takes heat at coffee shop talks for where it spends money and manages its dollars, but in reality they are left juggling the dollars, contracts and requirements set by the province, and little more.
