A rendering of the Kamloops cancer care centre. (Image Credit: Interior Health)

By Victor Kaisar

Cancer Care Funding

Hospital board to draw down reserves to further offset Kamloops cancer centre borrowing

Mar 25, 2026 | 5:55 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Thompson Regional Hospital District (TRHD) is proposing to borrow much less than previously anticipated to pay its share of the costs for the Kamloops cancer care centre.

TNRD Finance Manager Austin Potts says the plan is to use a little over $12.6 million from reserves over the next four years to cover the TRHD’s share of approximately $45 million. He notes that would require just $15 million to be borrowed and not $30.5 million as was indicated last year.

“By borrowing $15 million, we’re able to reduce the burden on taxpayers quite significantly,” Potts told CFJC Today. “The total cost of borrowing $15 million over 25 years will be $27.6 million, using an interest rate of 4.8 per cent.”

“By reducing the amount we borrow, we’ll be able to reduce what we’d have to pay over 25 years from $56.2 million and save taxpayers about $28.6 million in borrowing costs.”

Hospital Board Chair Mike O’Reilly told CFJC Today that those “stable and predictable tax increases” have helped save taxpayers millions in the long run.

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“We certainly could have cut tax increases and had them at only 1 per cent or 1.2 per cent,” O’Reilly said Thursday. “Politically that would have been good. However what we decided was to keep it at 5 per cent, and that really help build up our reserves.”

“When we did the math at the end of the day, we saved almost $30 million for the residents of the Thompson Regional Hospital District.”

Taxation levied on properties across the THRD will cover the remaining $17.4 million of the hospital’s district’s share of the project’s $386-million cost. A ground breaking was held in July last year, and the cancer centre is expected to open its doors in 2028.

Potts says this new funding plan for the cancer centre – which was approved at Thursday’s (March 26) THRD meeting – was drawn up following a recommendation from the TNRD’s auditors, who suggested that money in reserves be used to “offset the relatively higher cost of borrowing.”

“The feedback that our auditors and I gave after a review of our financial statements was that we have a lot of money in reserves and its unlikely that our investments will beat out the cost of debt,” Potts added. “So we made the decision to draw down our reserves a bit and put it towards the cancer care project to reduce the amount of borrowing we have to do even further.”

Tax increases to continue until 2030

Potts also noted that a previously approved plan to increase hospital district taxes by five per cent a year until 2028 has now been extended to 2030.

“What that allows us to do is on the cusp of the overall cancer care project ending in 2029, we’ll be able to re-contribute to reserves in anticipation of large future capital projects such as Phase 3 of the Patient Care Tower,” Potts said.

“It would allow us to take a similar approach in the future where we draw down a little bit of the reserves and help offset the cost of that project.”

O’Reilly also said Thursday that decision to maintain those tax increases puts the hospital district in a position to green-light projects a lot quicker.

“There is one [Hospital District] similar size to us right now that is contemplating a 28 per cent tax increase to fund a project that is coming through. That is something that we didn’t find palatable for our residents and that is why we keep it stable consistent at 5 per cent,” O’Reilly said.

“When ministry is ready to fund our next major capital project, we’ll be ready for it and we won’t have to go back to the taxpayer for 30 per cent as seen in other areas.”

According to the TRHD, the 2026 budget has a total tax requisition of $18.98 million – an increase of $903,844 or 5 per cent from last year. However, it notes the average property owner will pay approximately 2.7 per cent less in hospital taxes compared to 2025, because of an increased tax base.

“An average residential home valued at $650,000 within the TRHD will pay approximately $202.61 in Hospital District property taxes in 2026, compared to approximately $208.33 in 2025,” a statement from the TRHD said.