Strings attached: Fraser Valley politicians hold back money from Fraser Health

If they’re going to fork over $6 million to Surrey-based Fraser Health, Fraser Valley politicians want a say in how the money is used.

The politicians who sit on the Fraser Valley Regional Hospital District board (gently) thumbed their nose at the health authority last week by refusing to ante up the full amount of money requested by Fraser Health for upcoming capital projects.

Instead of passing along the full amount requested, the Fraser Valley Regional Hospital District held back half—about $3.2 million—pending further talks.

The hospital boards’ members are councillors and electoral area representatives from across the Fraser Valley Regional District—roughly Abbotsford/Mission to Boston Bar. Hospital boards like the Fraser Valley Regional Hospital Board raise money through property taxes that they then pass on to health authorities to fund capital expenses ranging from minor equipment upgrades to the construction of new hospitals and long-term care buildings.

It seems like a relatively simple relationship, and it normally is. But in recent years, the councillors, mayors, and rural representatives who make up the hospital district board have occasionally taken umbrage at their treatment by the health authority and the way it divides up the money sent to them.

Push back

Nearly two years ago, in the spring of 2022, the hospital district rejected a last-minute request from Fraser Health for $6 million. The timing of the request—coming after the district had completed its annual budget—rankled several hospital district members.

Abbotsford Coun. Patricia Ross said she felt “disrespected,” while Mission Mayor Paul Horn said the “system is broken” and similar to relationships with other provincial organizations.

“We ran into this with the RCMP and integrated services, where they would go and spend without checking with us,” he said at the time. “And that fundamentally misses a very important step.”

Horn and residents in Mission have spoken in the past about the lack of support they see provided to Mission Memorial Hospital. Politicians and residents in other Fraser Valley communities, from Hope to Abbotsford, have also complained about issues with their local facilities. They have some reason to want better: Fraser Health’s emergency rooms are the most-crowded in the province, the data shows.

In 2022, a Hope area politician suggested the local facility didn’t have the facilities of “a real hospital.” And the previous year, Chilliwack Coun. Jason Lum questioned why the hospital in his city didn’t seem to get its full share of funding.

Attaching strings

After the pushback nearly two years ago, Fraser Health returned to the hospital district last fall earlier in the budgeting process with a smaller request—for $3.2 million. The hospital district gave the go-ahead without much fuss.

But this fall, as the latest budget cycle returned, the health authority made its largest request yet—$6.5 million.

And like in 2022, the hospital district board has rebuffed the request.

At a meeting last week, the board unanimously voted to hand Fraser Health $3.2 million—the same amount it provided the previous year.

The rest of the money seems to still be on the table. But the hospital district wants something for it.

“Until we have had some of the outcomes we are all collectively looking for,” Horn said, “we should be in the zone where we have been and we can work in good faith to get to a new number.”

Historically, the funding has been a no-strings attached affair. The hospital board hands Fraser Health a couple million dollars, and local hospitals get some new equipment—albeit not in locations that have always appeased everyone. Sometimes the money goes towards a larger project.

Now, though, the local politicians want to add some strings.

Horn wasn’t available for an interview to explain what outcomes precisely he is desiring. But based on past statements, it appears that members of the hospital district board now want to see proof that their money is being appropriately distributed before they hand over larger sums of cash.

What comes next

It’s unclear what comes next. The hospital district funding amounts to about 17% of the money Fraser Health expects that it will need for minor and major capital projects in the region.

In the grand scheme of Fraser Health’s $5.5 billion annual operating budget, the money is peanuts. The local politicians will hope—and may expect—that holding back $3 million can extract some promises from Fraser Health, while at the same time not inhibiting the health authority’s desire to actually undertake the various projects it says it wants to complete over the next year.

The largest short-term projects that were slated for hospital district funding are the replacement of the “MDR Cart Washer” at Chilliwack General Hospital (the hospital district would pay $1.1 million towards the $2.85 million cost); the replacement of the roof at Fraser Hope Lodge (hospital district would pay $932,000 towards the total $2.3 million cost); and a security upgrade in Abbotsford Regional Hospital’s emergency department (hospital district would fund $770,000 of the $1.9 million cost).

Fraser Health also plans to undertake a range of capital projects using solely its own money including:

• Replacing drug distribution cabinets at Abbotsford Regional Hospital: $2.9 million

• Improving parking at ARH: $2.1 million

• Acquiring more land around Chilliwack General Hospital and demolishing homes in advance of future expansion work: $7.1 million

• Building a new urgent and primary care centre in Mission: $9.35 million

Long-term care co-operation

The latest squabble isn’t impacting funding plans for long-term care homes in Abbotsford and Chilliwack.

The hospital district expects to kick in about $60 million of funding towards new long-term care facilities in the two cities. About $35 million will come from money already collected, while the hospital district will borrow another $25 million to put towards the two massive projects.

A 200-bed, $211 million facility in Abbotsford was announced in June, with construction slated to begin in 2025 and wrap up in 2027. The site will replace 109 beds that will be decommissioned in the aging Cottage and Worthington Pavilion.

The Chilliwack project has not yet been formally announced yet, and it’s not known when construction will begin.