A Belleville councillor has once again raised the issue of the city not paying its 2018 increase in Long Term Care budget for 2018.
This time it was at Wednesday’s meeting of the Hastings-Quinte Long Term Care committee.
Councillor Egerton Boyce, who was sitting in for an absent city representative, said the city has an obligation under contract to pay its share of the 2018 increased cost of Centennial Manor in Bancroft and Hastings Manor in Belleville.
Boyce said it would be then time to negotiate the 2019 bill.
Hastings County CAO Jim Pine says, “We’d be glad to discuss the issue for the future, but the 2018 bill must be paid.”
Belleville Councillor Kelly McCaw, a city representative on the Long Term Care Committee, says the contract should be paid.
Statistics presented at the meeting show Belleville has 146 of the 253 residents at Hastings Manor and six of 109 in Centennial Manor.
During its budget debate this spring, city council voted not to pay the 17% increase in the Hastings Manor budget and the 31% increases in Centennial Manor’s budget.
Following the meeting, Boyce told Quinte News he expects the issue to be reconsidered at Monday’s city council meeting.
When asked if he would be the one to bring forward such a motion, Boyce would not commit to that.