Media Release-Hastings County 2020 Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hastings County 2020 Budget

Today, Hastings County Council passed the 2020 Budget that will ensure that residents continue to receive critical services by investing more in Child Care, Seniors Housing, Long-Term Care and Paramedic Services.
An increase of 5.18% in the County levy after growth will address service gaps and pressures created through an increase in demand for service or as a result of a decrease in funding.
“We continue to see significant pressures and increased demands for services and the time to invest in the people we serve is now,” stated Warden Phillips. “Through this budget our long-term care residents will enjoy an increase in the hours of direct care as we move both homes closer to the provincial goal of 4 hours per resident per day,” said Phillips.
“When it comes to our paramedic operations, it was clear that investing in an additional 24/7 staffed ambulance was necessary. It has been more than 5 years since we added resources and during that time our call volumes, especially emergency calls had increased to the point where we needed to act. Our goal is to ensure people receive as quick a response to medical emergencies as possible,” stated Phillips.
“In the case of child care, we were faced with a significant reduction in provincial funding support this year. That meant more local property tax dollars were needed to maintain the existing number of child care spaces in our communities. People depend on child care so they can go to work and receive an education and we were committed to ensure that those critical spaces remain,” he added.
Highlights
 The operating budget for the County of Hastings totals $148,278,286 million
 The levy increase is 5.18% after growth
 The increase results in an additional $25.00 on a typical taxpayer with a residential assessment
of $185,500
 An aging population and call volume pressures resulted in the additional staffed ambulance 24
hours day/7 days a week
 Moving our homes closer to the provincial goal of 4 hours of direct care per day per resident
resulted in an increase of nursing/personal care hours to bring our homes to:
-3.0 hours at Hastings Manor
-3.13 hours at Hastings Centennial Manor
 The need for proper resourcing and funding of infrastructure needs resulted in an increase of 60
hours of custodial staff to support our seniors housing

Contacts:
Jim Pine, C.A.O.
Rick Phillips, Warden

County of Hastings, 235 Pinnacle Street, P.O. Bag 4400, Belleville, Ontario, K8N 3A9
Phone: (613) 966-1311 or 1-800-510-3306 Fax: (613)-966-257