Minutes - March 9, 2023 - Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting 

Members Present:

Mike Steele (Chair)
Matt Reid
Selomon Menghsha
Mike McGuire (joined at 9:10)

Others Present:

Stephanie Egelton, Executive Assistant to the Board of Health (recorder)
Emily Williams, Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Alexander Summers, Medical Officer of Health
David Jansseune, Assistant Director, Finance
Sarah Maaten, Acting Director, Office of the Medical Officer of Health
Maureen MacCormick, Director, Healthy Living
Jennifer Proulx, Acting Director, Healthy Start/Chief Nursing Officer
Carolynne Gabriel, Executive Assistant to the Medical Officer of Health
Kaitlynn Van Diepen, Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Joanne Kearon, Public Health Medical Resident

At 9:05 a.m., Chair Mike Steele called the meeting to order.

Disclosures of Conflict of Interest

Chair Mike Steele inquired if there were any disclosures of conflicts of interest. None were declared.

Approval of Agenda

It was moved by M. Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the AGENDA for the March 9, 2023 Finance & Facilities Committee meeting be approved.
Carried

Approval of Minutes 

It was moved by S. Menghsha, seconded by M. Reid, that the MINUTES of the February 2, 2022 Finance & Facilities Committee meeting be approved.
Carried

Confidential

At 9:06 a.m., it was moved by M. Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the Finance and Facilities Committee will move in-camera to consider matters regarding personal matters about identifiable individuals, including municipal or local board employees and matters regarding labour relations or employee negotiations.
Carried

At 10:04 a.m., it was moved by M. McGuire, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the Finance and Facilities Committee return to public session from closed session.
Carried

New Business

Proposed Revised 2023 Budget (Report No. 04-23FFC)

Emily Williams, Chief Executive Officer provided an overview of the 2023 budget process during Fall 2022:
- Initial Funding assumptions
o Flat provincial funding to 2022, with the Health Unit covering all inflationary pressures
o Mitigation funding continuing for 2023
o COVID-19 extraordinary funding will have the same process as 2022
- Inflationary pressures
o Salary and benefits at $597,000
o Corporate expenses at $300,000
- Additional pressures included a plan to bring gapping to 2021 levels ($330,000 pressure) and a plan to budget for an accelerated payment plan on the variable bank loan ($200,000).
- The total target was $1.2 million.

Current State and Changes to Funding

E. Williams explained the current state of funding. Funding from the provincial government remains unknown, with the budget anticipated on March 23, 2023. Currently, most public health units in Ontario are budgeting 1-2% increases - municipalities will bear these costs if provincial funding does not come through. Advocacy for public health funding through the Association of Local Public Health Agencies and the Association of Municipalities Ontario, as well as the Chief Medical Officer of Health, continues.

Budget Overview

Dave Jansseune, Assistant Director, Finance provided a budget overview.

Financial changes to the target include:
- Staffing inflation (initial estimate was $597,000 and revised to $478,470)
- Corporate inflation (initial estimate was $300,000 and revised to $306,184)
- OMERS pension increase for non-full-time staff (initial was unknown and revised to $199,452)
- Decrease to the gapping budget (initial was $300,000 and revised to $54,453)

The total target of savings is now $515,118. Salaries and benefit costs for 2023 is at $25,917,470, compared to $25,767,797 from 2022.

Disinvestments

Disinvestments have been discussed by the Senior Leadership Team in accordance to the public health pyramid and critical business infrastructure frameworks.

Pre-approved disinvestments by the Board of Health at the November 10, 2022 meeting include:
- General Expense reduction
- Cell phone reduction
- Student reductions

100% Funded – COVID-19, Seniors Dental and MLHU 2

COVID-19 funding supports the vaccine and case and contact management programs. For 2023, the total budget from the Ministry of Health is $10,655,019, which is a $17,413,875 decrease from 2022.

The Seniors’ Dental program supports operating costs for the program only. For 2023, the total budget is $3,693,148. The budget request has increased to include staffing increases to support the expansion of the program, including the opening of the Strathroy operatories.

MLHU 2 includes Best Beginnings ($2,483,000), FoodNet ($116,000), Smart Start for Babies ($152,000) and Shared Library Services ($108,000).

Chair Steele inquired what a 1% increase in base funding represents to the health unit. D. Jansseune noted that this would be approximately $200,000.

It was moved by M. McGuire, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the Finance & Facilities Committee recommend to the Board of Health to:
1) Receive Report No. 04-23FFC re: “Proposed Revised 2023 Budget” for information; and
2) Approve the disinvestments and investments as outlined in Report No. 04-23FFC.
Carried

2022 Vendor and Visa Payments (Report No. 05-23FFC)

Emily Williams, Chief Executive Officer introduced Dave Jansseune, Assistant Director, Finance to present the 2022 Vendor and Visa Payments report.

D. Jansseune noted that this report detailed vendors whom the Health Unit paid over $100,000 in 2022 along with a summary of corporate credit card charges.

Board Member M. Reid inquired on the comparison of vendor and visa charges from 2021. D. Jansseune noted that corporate credit card usage was similar to 2021, with reductions for vendors from 2021 due to the reduction in COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

It was moved by M. Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the Finance & Facilities Committee make a recommendation to the Board of Health to receive Report No. 05-23FFC re: “2022 Vendor and VISA Payments” for information.
Carried

Other Business

The next meeting of the Finance and Facilities Committee will be held on Thursday, May 11, 2023 at 9 a.m.

Adjournment 

At 10:21 a.m., it was moved by M. McGuire, seconded by M. Reid, that the meeting be adjourned.
Carried

Mike Steele
Chair

Emily Williams
Secretary