Expenditures will rise $16 million from 2014, but the residential tax rate remains the same as the Thompson Regional Hospital District board of directors has approved the 2015 provisional budget.
The total expenditures for 2015 have been budgeted at $34.4 million, and the tax rate for the average house will be $127.
Included in budget expenses is funding for the clinical services building at Royal Inland Hospital, along with provisions for capital projects, minor equipment and projects carried forward from the previous budget.
Contribution from a capital reserve of $11 million is also included in the budget. The capital reserve balance at the end of the year will be $4.2 million.
The Thompson Regional Health District also approved a bylaw for cost-sharing with the Interior Health Authority for minor equipment in facilities based in Merritt, Logan Lake, Kamloops, Ashcroft, Barriere, Chase, Clearwater and Lillooet.
The equipment the Nicola Valley Hospital and Health Centre will receive includes a hematology analyzer, a chemistry analyzer, a biological fridge and one computed radiography (CR) reader, which digitizes an image taken via radiography. The total cost of the equipment being added to the hospital in Merritt adds up to over $100,000.
The Logan Lake Health Centre is receiving a CR reader as well.
The TRHD will contribute $788,196 to the total of $1,970,490 in new equipment for area hospitals. Each fall, the IHA presents a list of minor equipment they want to cost-share with the TRHD at a 40 per cent split, with the IHA funding the lion’s share of the cost at 60 per cent.
