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By Victor Kaisar

Cancer Centre Update

Hospital board to use increased tax revenue, interest to reduce borrowing for Kamloops cancer centre

Feb 20, 2025 | 2:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Thompson Regional Hospital District (TRHD) will continue with its plan to increase taxes by five per cent a year until 2028 in a bid to reduce the amount of borrowing needed for the Kamloops cancer care centre.

Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) Finance Supervisor Austin Potts says a combination of the increased tax revenue and the increased interest earned over the next five years will help reduce the amount of borrowing that is required by about $15 million.

“By staggering out the borrowing, we’ve managed to take our own capital and use it to leverage it for interest income to put toward these projects,” Potts said. “That is what is going to save us that $15 million between what [Interior Health] asked us to borrow at $45 million and what we’re proposing at about $31 million.”

Potts told CFJC that the TRHD expects to borrow about $15 million for the cancer care centre in 2026, $14 million in 2027 and about $1.5 million in 2028.

He also said that while the Hospital District previously agreed to cover $45 million of the project’s $359-million cost, by borrowing less money, the TRHD is projecting to save “a ton on interest payments” over the loan’s 25-year term.

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“If we look at the difference between $45 million of borrowing and $31 million of borrowing at the MFA rates — which we’re locked into and cannot get out of that debt once we’re in it — it ends up being about $12 million in interest that we save,” Potts said.

Hospital board chair and Kamloops councillor Mike O’Reilly said the TRHD is trying to ensure that there are predictable and stable tax increases for residents.

“We are a minority funding partner in these projects and we have to be able to provide funding when needed, but at the same time, its another level of government that is deciding when to start on the project,” O’Reilly told CFJC Today. “We’re doing our fiduciary duty to start putting money aside to be able to fund these projects when the Ministry of Health requires it.”

He said that the five per cent increase in taxes this year will amount to an extra $10.34 for the average home within the TRHD that is assessed at $680,000.

“It’s what residents want and need rather than a yo-yo of 1.5 per cent one year and eight per cent the next year,” O’Reilly said. “This allows people to plan.”

“Our taxation started before the project even began and so that allowed us to front load and get our reserves up so that we don’t need to borrow as much money.

O’Reilly also said while the Kamloops cancer centre remains a top priority, the TRHD is “preparing for an additional improvement project at RIH in future years.”

It’s not clear what the scope of that additional work is. Phase 1 of renovations at RIH was the construction of the new Gaglardi Tower, while Phase 2 — which is still underway — includes extensive renovations to the emergency department as well as to the post-anesthetic recovery department, the pediatric unit and the morgue.

THRD to meet with health minister next month

O’Reilly also said the hospital district will be meeting with Health Minister Josie Osborne at the end of March to discuss the cancer care centre and how it will operate.

“There are a lot of components about the cancer centre that I’d like to discuss, and the actual scope of the project is one of them,” O’Reilly said, referencing a desire to see both the radiation and chemotherapy departments located in the new facility.

“Another is how it is going to function and operate. It’s complex and I haven’t been able to find another model similar to this across North America and so I want a better understanding of how this will operate and ultimately how it will help attract oncologists that we need.”

Interior Health and BC Cancer is scheduled to pick the contractor that will build the five-storey facility as well as a 470-stall parkade by this May, with construction expected to get underway this summer.

The long-awaited project is then expected to be complete in 2028.