Hastings Prince Edward Public Health is allocating up to $300,000 from operating reserves to the 2024 budget as committed reserves.
The health unit says this is to help offset a projected 2024 budget deficit.
According to a briefing note, the operating reserves as of December 31, 2022 were $2,262,853.
The balance of the deficit is expected to be made up by not filling staff positions, a staff vacancy factor (e.g leaves of absence, attrition, etc. ) as well as continued work on cost savings in discretionary budget items.
The health unit says it will finalize plans over the next few weeks to balance the budget, which will then be presented to the Finance Committee for review in November.
