Sault Area Hospital had feared a deficit as high as $30 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, but wrapped the year with only a $1.5-million shortfall.  

Turn the clock ahead. In 2025-26, when SAH created its operating plan for the year starting April 2025, it again anticipated a “significant” deficit, as high as $25 million. And when it forecasts now to the end of this year, March 2026, the region’s principal health-care facility expects a $20-million shortfall. 

With a twist. 

“The most significantly different thing between this year and last year is that last year there was an expectation … there were signals in the environment that we would receive incremental funding within the year,” Watson said. “It does not seem that those same signals are there this year. 

Watson said the hospital is working “diligently” with Ontario Health and the Ministry of Health to address fiscal “uncertainty.” 

“So, our operating plans for 2026-27 do have some uncertainty due to funding and policy variables we will continue to work on,” Watson said.

SAH says maintaining current operations through to 2026-27 will result in a deficit of approximately $31 million in addition to the projected shortfall for this year. 

“We have a considerable amount of work to do,” Watson said. “We are focusing on efficiencies, revenue opportunities, improvements in utilization of hospital services.” 

SAH says Ontario hospitals rely on parking fees as a revenue source to supplement government funding, and parking revenues are used both to offset maintenance costs and to generate revenue, supporting “vital” community patient care programs. 

Ontario hospitals must publicly post parking revenue. Parking revenue for the fiscal year is posted on SAH’s website. Assuming maintenance costs and parking volumes remain stable, the proposed rates will increase net annual parking revenue by $480,000. Parking revenue is split almost evenly between staff and the public. 

This parking rate increase was contemplated for several years but deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic and inflationary economic pressures, SAH told The Sault Star earlier.

“That is part of multi-measured plans,” Watson said Monday evening. “It is a move that we had to make, having left those rates unchanged for 10 years. It’s an important source of revenue for us.” 

Not surprisingly, not everyone applauded the rate hike. 

A charity that assists SAH cancer patients with parking costs was “taken back pretty good” when SAH informed it of the rate increase. 

“It’s not a good news story for us at all,” said Dennis Dinelle, whose late wife, Tracy, adopted an activist role following her 2012 cancer diagnosis, being instrumental in the launch of Tracy’s Dream. 

And Ontario Health Coalition, which advocates for publicly funded health care, pooh-poohed the increase – OHC opposes the practice of paid hospital parking – but acknowledged Ontario hospitals are mandated to charge for parking. 

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