2022 budget comes in essentially break-even
LITTLE CURRENT—Manitoulin Centennial Manor passed its 2022-2023 budget during its January meeting last week, managing to hold the municipal contribution to the long-term care home to two percent.
“In the December financial statement we show a year end of about a $40,000 over spend,” noted Manor administrator Don Cook, “but that includes a $38,000 payment for the roof repair that was approved from capital reserve. As we do not actually have a special capital account, the capital money is in the operating account and when used is expense out of the operating account. This just means we ended up with a break-even budget.”
Given the challenges faced by the Manor during the pandemic and subsequent outbreak at the home, there was extra funding made available. “We did have a large expense with COVID and the outbreak,” said Mr. Cook, “but we received some extra funding for part of it and were able to find the rest in our budget.”
As such, “we were able to keep the municipal portion to a two percent increase as scheduled, and still built in some capital for this year, as well as budgeting for some agency staff. We’re hoping we don’t have to use agency too much.”
It was only a couple of months ago that the prognosis was not looking anywhere near as rosy, but the provincial government came through with 50 percent funding for extra costs and there remains hope that additional funding will be forthcoming.
The board is considering raising the amount of the signing bonus for new health care professionals from the current $10,000 to $20,000 in order to remain competitive with other health care agencies. Mr. Cook noted that the need for agency staff to fill in for sick or vacationing staff members has placed significant pressure on the Manor’s staffing budget.
The 2023 budget contained several assumptions as to wages, with some union negotiations in the offing. Those include 1.5 percent increases for managers, three percent rises for RPNs and service staff, a 1.75 percent hike for registered nurses in 2022 and two percent in 2023. Benefit costs are slated to rise 5.7 percent for CPP, 2.4 percent for employment insurance, 2.1 percent for WSIB and 2.3 percent for employer’s health tax, while group benefits are expected to rise three percent across the board.
The 2022 budget is forecast to come in with a deficit of $40,737, but there remains hope that the provincial government will step up to cover some of the additional expenses incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak experienced by the home.
“We are hoping for a good year in 2023,” noted Mr. Cook, “provided we do not have to spend too much on agency staff.”
