Report No. 002-12

TO: Chair and Members of the Board of Health
FROM: Graham L. Pollett, MD, FRCPC, Medical Officer of Health
DATE: 2012 January 19

2012 Budget Update - January

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Board of Health approve the Board Executive’s direction to reduce the Municipal share of the 2012 cost shared budget by $119,050 (i.e. a $100,000 reduction in City of London funding and a $19,050 reduction in Middlesex County funding) representing a 1.6% reduction in Municipal funding.

As Board of Health members are aware, a special meeting of the Board of Health Executive was held January 6^th to review and discuss the previously approved 2012 Health Unit budget. As a result of this review, the Board of Health Executive requested that staff find additional operating cost efficiencies which would result in a total municipal funding reduction of approximately $119,000 for 2012.  As can be seen in Table 1 below, the proportionate savings to the City of London and County of Middlesex would be $100,000 and $19,050 respectively.  This represents a 1.6% reduction in municipal funding to the Board of Health. An electronic survey of Board members supported the Executive direction. The minutes of the January 6, 2012 Board of Health Executive meeting are attached as Appendix A.

Table 1 – Revised 2012 Cost Shared Budget – By Funding Body

The reduction will be accommodated through the management of position vacancies resulting from natural occurrences such as staff retirements and resignations. As with any organization this size, there is some staff turn over each year. The resulting vacancies invariably generate unintended savings. That is, there is usually a delay between when someone leaves and a new person is hired owing to the requirements of the hiring process (posting, advertising, interviews, reference checks, etc) which take longer than the notice period (usually 2 weeks) given by the departing staff member. There also can be savings if the person coming in is started on the salary grid at a lower step than the departing person was earning. Staff will manage position vacancies to ensure the designated funding reduction is realized on an annual basis. In this way the budget reduction can be achieved without affecting the staff complement or service levels.

Attached as Appendix B is correspondence sent to Councillor Nancy Branscombe, Chair, City Council Services Review Committee, as well as to Mayor Joe Fontana advising Council of the decision to revise the previously approved Board of Health 2012 budget. Board Members’ attention is directed to the attachments to this letter. These are the items that are being shared with City Councillors during the one on one meetings being conducted to clarify the Board of Health’s 2012 budget position.

Graham L. Pollett, MD, FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health