The West Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital District (WKBRHD) board adopted this year’s $34,103,193 budget at its March 26 meeting. This includes about $22 million worth of new projects at the various Interior Health facilities in the region, and about $12 million worth of unfinished projects still on the books from prior years.
Taxation will rise by five per cent this year, making up $5,169,549 of the district’s budget. This works out to $39.27 per $250,000 in assessed property value.
The board will use $2,867,162 in reserve funds to balance the budget, leaving $5,166,851 in reserve.
This year’s $22-million request from Interior Health includes various projects, equipment, and upgrades throughout the region’s facilities. Notable items include the MRI expansion at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital (KBRH), with WKBRHD contributing $13,945,000; new CT scanners at KBRH ($1,491,200) and Kootenay Lake Hospital ($1,700,000); a mental health community outreach location in Nelson ($200,000); and an exterior staircase to the rooftop at Arrow Lakes Hospital ($25,400).
WKBRHD generally pays 40 per cent of the cost of approved projects, with the remaining 60 per cent funded by the provincial government.
In his March 26 report accompanying the budget, secretary-treasurer Stuart Horn noted that hospital board budgeting is tricky because many projects take multiple years to complete, but the budget must show all payments being made in that one fiscal year.
That hardly ever happens, he said. For example, when last year’s budget was adopted, it stood at $16,097,640, but by year end only $3,658,795 was spent (with $2.6 million contributed to Interior Health).
This year, the board’s $13.945 million contribution to the new permanent MRI at KBRH is included, but work won’t wrap up until 2028 – meaning most of those budgeted funds won’t be spent this year.
