The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit's 2026 budget has been approved with a slight increase in spending.
The board of directors approved the $25.4 million budget, which includes a one per cent funding increase from the Ontario Ministry of Health and a one per cent increase each from the City of Windsor, the County of Essex, and the Township of Pelee.
Health Unit CEO Dr. Ken Blanchette says the budget approval allows them to continue with a stable environment at the health unit.
"Right now we feel very good; we feel very stable. Our ability to adapt and move with some of these things with the additional range that we have is a good position for us right now," he says.
In 2023, the province announced a three-year funding strategy for public health units in Ontario of annual increases of just one per cent per year.
The budget report says that funding increases are not keeping pace with expenses that are growing at a rate of three per cent or more per year, which have been mitigated in part by vacancies and difficult decisions or deferrals around capital expenditures.
To meet some of those challenges, the board also approved a request to establish a reserve fund, which will allow the health unit to direct unused municipal money to that fund to help address immediate spending needs without having to go back to the municipalities for funding help.
Health Unit CEO Dr. Ken Blanchette says there's a tremendous amount of pressure on the health unit when things come up, like the measles outbreak this past summer that required staff and overtime costs.
"We have a set budget, and something unexpected comes up. What's that additional cost that will be associated with it? You can't wait to say, "Will we have the money to do it?" Especially for something like what we had with measles. Now with the reserve in place, we will be able to act and operate without that additional pressure," he says.
Blanchette says they are trying to be prudent with every single penny they have, which is why the reserve fund is a responsible way to do that.
"It's a strategy that allows us to be nimble instead of taking a very large risk and investing those dollars without knowing if we will end up getting those dollars back in return," he says.
This year's budget includes funding to add three additional full-time staff members.