Province still falls short of 50% funding of ambulance services
by Richard Blanchard

The provincial government is still falling short of providing half of the funding for ambulance services in Simcoe County.

In an information report received at the last meeting of Simcoe county council, councillors learned that the county will receive about 42% of the cost of operating ambulance services from the province this year.

This is up from the 40% of costs funded by the province in 2006 and 35% provided by the province in 2005.

The reported noted that, when the province downloaded ambulance services to the county in 1997, that it promised to fund 50% of its costs.

Jane Sinclair, General Manager of Health and Cultural Services, noted that in "the transition to municipal government, the province has consistently funded less than its 50% cost share, dropping to 35% for the County of Simcoe going into the 2006 budget year. "

In 2006, the provincial grant was increased to the County of Simcoe Paramedic Services by $1,166,936. This increase resulted in $9,992,393 in provincial grant funding which represented 40% of costs including operating and capital costs.

In 2007 provincial grant allocation increased by $2,230,793 to a total of $11,986,921 in provincial grant for the County which represents 42% of our 2007 ambulance services budget, inclusive of capital and operating costs.