The Thompson Regional Hospital District Board of Directors has approved the 2015 Provisional Budget.
Total expenditures for 2015 have been budgeted at $34.4 million, which is up approximately $16 million from 2014.
Included in the 2015 expenditures is partial funding for the Clinical Services Building at Royal Inland Hospital along with provisions for capital projects, minor equipment and carry forward projects.
Also included is contribution from a capital reserve of $11 million. The capital reserve balance at the end of the 2015 fiscal year will be $4.2 million.
The 2015 residential tax rate for the TRHD will remain the same as it was in 2014 — $127 for the average house. 2014 will be the last year of increases in taxes as per a three-year strategic direction provided by the board in 2012 to increase taxes by approximately $21 per year for the average house.
The TRHD also approved a bylaw for cost-sharing ($788,196 of $1,970,490) with Interior Health Authority (IHA) for minor equipment in facilities within Kamloops (RIH), Ashcroft, Barriere, Chase, Clearwater, Lillooet, Logan Lake and Merritt.
Each fall IHA presents a list of minor equipment with which they would like to cost share with the TRHD at 40 per cent.