The Thompson Regional Hospital District board of directors has elected Peter Milobar (City of Kamloops) as the new chair, and Ronaye Elliott, director for Electoral Area J (Copper Desert Country) as the acting chair.
Milobar is the mayor of Kamloops while Elliott is a former resident of Avola and was at one time the Thompson Nicola Regional District director for Area B (Thompson Headwaters).
“I’m honored and appreciate the Board’s support,” said Milobar of accepting the position by acclamation. “And I’m looking forward to working with Interior Health and the province on all the upcoming projects towards the betterment of health services in the region.”
Also on Dec. 22 the TRHD approved the 2012 provisional budget. Total expenditures for 2012 have been budgeted at $16.5 million, which is up approximately $1.7 million from 2011. Included in the 2012 expenditures is funding for Medical Device Reprocessing at Royal Inland Hospital. The 2012 residential tax rate for the TRHD will increase an average of $21 per residential household assessment.
The increase in the tax rate is part of a strategy to build up a down-payment towards the construction of the Royal Inland Hospital’s Surgical Patient Care Tower and the Columbia Street Health Services Building. These two projects are expected to cost approximately $400 million.
The average tax rate will increase from $21 per residential household to $127 by 2014 to help offset these costs.
The TRHD also approved a bylaw for cost-sharing ($837,424 of $2,093,560) with Interior Health for minor equipment in facilities within Kamloops (RIH), Ashcroft, Clearwater, Lillooet and Merritt. Each fall Interior Health presents a list of minor equipment that they would like the TRHD to cost share at 40 per cent with.
Thompson Regional Hospital District’s boundary is similar to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s but not the same. It includes portions of Columbia-Shuswap and Squamish-Lillooet regional districts.