Barrie to review agreements with county

Budget process convinced councillor there should be a review
By BOB BRUTON Barrie Examiner March 4 2010
All city agreements for services provided by the County of Simcoe will get a second look.
Barrie council gave final approval Monday to a motion to have staff review the service delivery agreements.
This would include Ontario Works (welfare), social housing, long-term care and paramedic services. The city is paying the county $24.8 million this year for these services.
Coun. John Brassard said the recent operating budget process, which sets property taxes, convinced him there should be a review — especially paramedic services.
“I want to make sure that Barrie taxpayers are receiving good value for their tax dollars, and want to be sure that we are not, in fact, subsidizing service in more rural areas of the county, as well as other nonessential services that the county provides,” he said.
Brassard said Guelph, with a population of 118,000 people, spent $2.1 million in 2009 on paramedic services — with an average response time of seven minutes
Barrie, with a population of 135,000, gave the county $5.7 million last year for land ambulance service and had an average response time of 11 minutes.
“The numbers don’t add up and that’s why I want staff to look into it further and report back to council,” Brassard said.
“I also want to know as well whether there is some duplication in services between Barrie Fire and Emergency Service and the Simcoe County Paramedic Service that’s costing Barrie taxpayers money, and if there is, what can be done about eliminating duplication.”
There are 280 paramedics and 31 peak-time paramedic-staffed response units with Simcoe County’s paramedic services. They handle about 74,000 calls annually — about 25% in Barrie.
The county’s annual paramedic expenses are expected to be $34 million this year. An increase in provincial funding has meant a reduction in overall paramedic expenditures.
City staff, as part of the budget process, are already reviewing paramedic services. The objective is to either renegotiate the terms of this service’s delivery, or identify a new service delivery model for the city.
Brassard said his original plan was just to review paramedic services, but after talks with city managers he decided it was best to review all agreements.
He said these agreements are not reviewed annually, although the county does submit a budget for council’s approval on an annual basis — based on what’s already been established within the framework of the agreements.
He wants city staff to meet with county officials to review these agreements as they get close to expiring.
The current service level agreements with the county came into effect on Jan. 1, 2007 and end on Dec. 31, 2010, which is basically for this term of city council.
It’s not only about value and service for money, but if there’s a chance to reduce costs and explore other funding formulas.
Brassard said most services the county provides to Barrie are provincially mandated, but as a separated city (from the Simcoe County government) Barrie has a right to appeal.
“We’re not at that point, but council has made a commitment to ensure that taxpayers are receiving good value for their tax dollars and that’s precisely what I am hoping to accomplish,” he said. “There are a lot of dollars at stake here and I simply want to ensure that the level of service we receive is commensurate with the costs we are paying.”