Blog, Letters, News

Board of Health Report shows 224 vacant positions

30 September 2013

 

Delays in hiring reduced TPH’s services across all programs

Dear Councillor Mihevc and Members of the Board of Health:

RE:     HL24.11 – Toronto Public Health Operating Budget Variance for the Six Months ended June 30, 2013

After seeing the Operating Variance at Budget Committee earlier this month, and the Service Level Reviews at the Standing Committees, the overall reality of the number of vacant positions throughout all the City’s Divisions and Agencies, Boards and Commissions is a significant cause for concern.  The excessive number of vacant positions in Toronto Public Health is even more troubling.

There are two problem areas identified in the Toronto Public Health Operating Budget Variance for the Six Months ended June 30, 2013:

  • 224.0 vacant permanent full-time positions (12.6%), and
  • revenue was under achieved due to under-funded program expenditures in provincial cost-shared and fully funded programs.  “At year end, TPH expects to be under spent by $1.0 million net”.

Local 79 would like a more detailed breakdown on the 224 vacant positions:  by classification, section and program; and the impact that these unfilled positions have on service levels.

What does it mean when the City under-spends provincial dollars?  The Board of Health gets the provincial funding; then what?  Where does it go?  Where is it spent?

The Staff Report before the Board of Health states this:

“Salaries and Benefits were $3,110.2 thousand or 2.98 per cent less than gross approved Salaries and Benefits budget.  This resulted in actual gapping of 7.9 percent versus the overall TPH gapping target of 4.8 percent, or a difference of 3.1 percent which reflects the delays in hiring for vacant positions following the 2011 City hiring slowdown, combined with reduced HR Staffing resources due to cuts made during the 2012 Operating Budget process.  These delays in hiring reduced TPH’s services across all programs.”

Public Health service delivery has been directly affected by under-staffing and under-spending. Services have been reduced.

The reasons given for staff vacancies and under spending only serve to highlight the hurdles Public Health must overcome to reach its full staffing complement and deliver the many public health services that Toronto residents desperately need.

 

Yours truly,

Tim Maguire, President