qathet Regional Hospital District directors were presented the second draft of the hospital district’s budget, outlining taxation and expenditures for 2025.
At a January 28 meeting, qathet Regional District general manager of financial administration Linda Greenan led directors through the draft.
In her written report to directors, Greenan outlined that the 2025 tax requisition for the hospital district is $3,071,890, which is an increase of $82,214 from 2024.
In terms of cost per average home, hospital district taxation in City of Powell River is forecast to be $202.44; in Tla’amin Nation, $141.57; in Electoral Area A (north of the city), $179,21; in Electoral Area B (south of the city), 220.17; in Electoral Area C (south of the city), $237.48; and in Electoral Area D (Texada), $148.25.
Greenan said this will be the final draft of the budget, prior to adoption in March. She said with operational costs that go into this budget, there are not a lot of operational costs for the regional hospital district.
Tax rates are expressed as a residential tax rate per $100,000 and are now based on the 2025 completed roll values from BC Assessment, according to Greenan. Actual tax rates will be based on the 2025 revised roll values, which are not released until March.
Greenan said the regional hospital district has had two cost share requests from Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) that the board approved in 2021, and another in 2022. She said for thatthe hospital district had borrowed $1.5 million over 10 years, which will be paid off in 2032. Annual payments are $191,000.
There is an additional $591,000 for the second cost share request. The payment on that is $80,677 per year, which will be paid off in 2033.
Greenan outlined a reserve fund the hospital district has, which could be used for VCH cost sharing requests or for any other projects that come up. She said the board had agreed to put $20 per $100,000 of assessed residential value annually into that reserve. She said the contribution is $1,817,000 per year. The balance at the end of 2025 will be $7.9 million, according to Greenan.
“That can be used for asset renewal, replacement, upgrades or VCH cost share requests,” said Greenan.
The hospital board voted to accept draft two of the five-year financial plan as presented at the meeting, and that the 2025 to 2029 financial plan as presented at draft two be incorporated into the financial plan bylaw, to be forwarded to the March 25 hospital district board meeting for first reading through adoption.
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