Belleville’s mayor says the Ontario government is not coming through with funding to help with the community’s ongoing overdose crisis, leaving the city with no other choice but to cover the costs itself.
Last week Mayor Neil Ellis asked the province for $2 million to help build a community hub for addictions, mental health and homelessness, as well as money to open a detox centre, days after the city declared the state of emergency over a rash of drug overdoses.
At a press conference Tuesday, Ellis said while he welcomes the province’s initial response of $216,000, it is not enough.
He said city council will instead look at ways of covering the $2 million for the community hub in its upcoming budget.
“If we have to do it by ourselves, that’s what we’ll do,” Ellis said. “We can’t wait.”
Ellis has said the money is needed to complete work on a social and health services hub known as “The Bridge,” a central location that will offer addictions and mental health services.
The city has already spent $1 million to purchase a property for the hub and another $1 million to start renovations.
Ellis said when council meets to start hashing out its 2024 operating budget later this month, he will propose finding a way to use municipal funds to finish the hub project.
If council approves the idea, the mayor said options to cover the costs could include adding a percentage point to any potential tax increase in the city’s upcoming budget, or adding to the city’s long-term debt.
He estimates a one percent tax increase would add roughly $40 a year in property taxes for a home assessed at $250,000.
“This is money that I don’t think we should be spending, well, we have to spend it … and it has to come from somewhere,” Ellis said.
“Do we keep waiting? Wait and wait and wait? We can’t — it’s peaked here, we need to get proper services.”
With the rest of the funding in place, the community hub could be open by the late fall or early winter, the mayor said.
Tuesday’s press conference was called after Ellis said he met with area MPP Todd Smith and others last week and was essentially told that money is not available right now and that the city would have to wait.
In an interview with Global News prior to the press conference, Smith said the city should have come to him and his government with more details and a costed out plan.
“I think it’s incumbent on the municipality to come forward with a costing plan so I can take it to my colleagues at cabinet and treasury board to decide what exactly it is that they’re asking for,” Smith said.
“Because right now it’s a $2 million dollar ask with no details attached.”
Belleville declared a state of emergency two days after crews were called to 17 overdoses in just 24 hours on Feb. 6.
The majority of the overdoses happened within a two-hour window in the city’s downtown core, which forced police to take the unusual move of asking the public to avoid the downtown during the surge in ambulance traffic.
A spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said a submission from the Canadian Mental Health Association Hastings Prince Edward remains under review.
The spokesperson said the province is providing over $216,000 in one-time funding to immediately increase the presence of first responders in Belleville’s downtown core, and to increase staffing at local support and outreach services.
–With files from Global’s Darryn Davis and The Canadian Press
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