Nunavik’s Tulattavik health centre balances its budget

Administrators at the Kuujjuaq-based Tulattavik health centre say the centre projects a $1 million surplus this fiscal year, which will be applied against the centre’s $8.3 million accumulated deficit. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavik’s Tulattavik health centre administrators say they’ve balanced the hospital’s budget, while the centre continues to pay off a multi-million dollar accumulated deficit.

At a June 17 meeting, Tulattavik’s board of directors approved the centre’s forecasted 2015-16 budget, which has now been submitted to Quebec’s health department.

The centre’s board of directors approved a forecasted budget of $71,499,370, with revenues of $72,499, 175, the resolution shows.

The projected budget lists a surplus of $1 million, which will be applied against the centre’s $8.3 million accumulated deficit.

“The management of the institution did a great job following the recovery plan,” said Tulattavik’s director of administrative services, Frédéric Moisan. “And we’re proud of what we’ve done.”

At the end of its 2013-14 fiscal year, the Kuujjuaq-based centre announced that it was facing an accumulated deficit of $6.8 million.

But it turns out the accumulated deficit in May 2014 was actually $8.1 million.

Because Quebec law requires balanced budgets within its public health and social services network, Tulattavik had to present a recovery plan.

And it did, Moisan said, coming up with 26 measures to help trim the centre’s budget.

Those included cutbacks to overtime, a revised purchasing policy and fewer leased staff units.

Tulattavik also invested in its own 10,000-square-foot storage warehouse, built near Stewart Lake for $5 million. But that expense will save the centre in the long-term, Moisan said, because it was previously renting four different facilities around the community to meet its needs.

Moisan said the centre did not lay off any positions as part of its recovery plan.

Tulattavik’s overall budget in 2014-15 was just over $71 million. The centre provides health and social services for the seven communities along Nunavik’s Ungava coast, including a general and specialized care hospital, child and youth protection, an extended care residential centre, and a youth rehabilitation centre.

Last year wasn’t the first year Tulattavik ended its fiscal year in the red; in 2012-2013, the health centre finished the year with a $2.6 million accumulated deficit, which grew to $5.5 million in 2013-14 and up to $8.1 million this past year.

After battling an accumulated deficit that grew to more than $100 million in the late 2000s, Tulattavik’s sister facility, Inuulitsivik health centre in Puvirnituq, managed to produce a surplus of more than $500,000 in 2012.

But Inuulitsivik was able to recover only after the province decided to write off the hospital’s long-term accumulated deficit.