Taxpayers won’t be seeing a tax increase in funding for capital health projects in the Kootenay East Regional Hospital District in 2014, said John Kettle.
Kettle, who has been re-elected to his seventh term as board chair, said that the hospital district’s annual budget is $8.74 million, two-thirds of which will go toward the intensive care unit project at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook.
“This budget as adopted shows a zero per cent increase in taxation over last year, which is fantastic news for the citizens of the region,” he said. “This board has always said that we will tax only for what we need, and for the sixth straight year we have been able to approve new projects without increasing taxes.”
Other capital projects provided for in the budget include the development of an isolation room at the Golden and District Hospital, direct digital controls replacement at the Sparwood Health Centre, and a C-arm, portable X-ray system, cart washer and MRI upgrade for East Kootenay Regional Hospital.
The KERHD tax rate will see residential property owners pay about $16 per $100,000 of assessed value.
Kettle said he was pleased to return to his position as board chair.
“I am grateful for the continued support of this board and look forward to continuing to build on our positive relationship with Interior Health in the coming year,” he said. “Last year at this time, we were advocating for a new intensive care unit (ICU) for the East Kootenay Regional Hospital. Today that project is a reality and I look forward to seeing construction get underway in the coming months.”
The KERHD has committed $8 million to the ICU project, which represents 40 per cent of the project cost.
Elkford Mayor Dean McKerracher has been re-elected as acting chair for a third term.
The hospital district extends beyond Cranbrook and the boundaries of the RDEK to include Golden and Creston, and the portions of the regional districts of Central Kootenay and Columbia Shuswap surrounding those communities.