Heather Wright/The Independent

The door has been shut for another year to organizations looking for capital grants from Lambton County.

In the past, county politicians have entertained requests for cash for building projects from local hospitals and charities.

In 2021, after a 10-year capital grant to Bluewater Health ended, councillors decided there would be no new capital grants approved that year. That moratorium is now stretching into the fourth year.

Karen Bettridge, manager of divisional support services at the county, recommended the continued moratorium in a report to Lambton County’s committee of the whole. She says the corporation is already facing financial strain and “cost containment efforts are being implemented across county divisions with the objective of realizing a balanced year-end position for 2026.”

Bettridge says there financial challenges dealing with affordable housing, homelessness and long-term care. And she says the organization which runs the Research Park is also having financial troubles. It recently asked the county for a five-year debt holiday to right the ship.

Petrolia Mayor Brad Loosley has opposed the moratorium from the start, hoping to allow Bluewater Health the opportunity to seek capital funding for the long discussed Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital redevelopment.

“I have a hard time approving this only because the last few years we’ve stopped the public from coming to approach the county council,” Loosley said Wednesday. “I feel we’re elected to be open, to give the impression to everyone that we have an open door policy and that we should at least allow the individuals to come and request it. We don’t have to approve it or give them anything, but I feel we should have an open door policy.”

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley agreed. “I still think the right to come is an important right, if they meet the criteria, and then we make the judgment.”

But they were in the minority. Dawn-Euphemia Mayor Al Broad says it just doesn’t make sense to invite the requests.

“I just find this unusual that we allow people to come and then we’re not going to give any money,” he said. “That’s wasting their time, that’s wasting our time and that makes no sense.

“I think everybody sitting around this table knows next year that’s coming up is going to be very difficult fiscally, so why are we asking people to come when we’re not going to give them the money?”

Even with the moratorium Bettridge says “the county will continue to provide base grant funding of approximately $3.5 million to organizations with existing commitments.”