Money question not easy to answer
News
Posted 2 months ago
This week's public hearing concerning the RM of Lac du Bonnet's health care reserve bylaw may not have resulted in any decision, but made one thing clear — it's not going to be easy to decide what to do with the $94,000 sitting in the fund.
There were citizens from a number of groups at the hearing, representing a variety of worthy health-care-related causes all vying for a piece of the pie.
Everyone had an opinion about where the money should go. Give it to a doctor to build a private clinic in town. Use it for a new personal care home. Give it to the Lac du Bonnet Seniors' Housing Corporation to go toward a complex for the elderly.
All good ideas, but the only one with hard data to back up their case was Gus Wruck of the Seniors' Housing Corporation. His presentation was informative and showed why seniors' housing should be considered a health care initiative.
Incredibly, there were some at the hearing who disagreed that seniors' housing is a health-care-related matter, showing how short-sighted we tend to be when it comes to the concept of health care, especially preventative medicine.
Preventing health problems in the first place is rarely given attention when the topic of health care comes up. We tend to focus of hospitals, and care homes, and other facilities that come into play after our health is already deteriorating.
Seniors' housing is a vital part of helping the elderly live healthier, fuller lives.
Still, Wruck's presentation raised a lot of questions. Indeed, seniors' housing is just one of several worthy causes in this community. When it comes to health care, it's hard to decide who is more deserving of a $94,000 pot of money.
Should council split it up evenly among several groups? Sounds like it could work, but what good will, say, $20,000 do for the Seniors' Housing Corporation when it needs $1 million in public donations?
Ratepayer Cam Neurenberg hit the nail on the head when he pointed out how special interests groups often pick away at these kinds of funds, making them virtually useless in the grand scheme of things.
Council has quite a task ahead of itself. Deciding what to do with the money will not be easy. No matter where it goes, there's bound to be hurt feelings and disappointed ratepayers who hoped it would go somewhere else.
Maybe the answer is to do nothing with it. Leave it where it is for the time being until the time comes when the community can get behind a single cause without argument and controversy.
Or is that just naive, wishful thinking?
