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Powell River hospital facilities require upgrades and repairs

Regional hospital board committee of the whole considers financial request
hospital capital
REQUIRES MONEY: Evergreen Care Unit, and Powell River General Hospital, in the background, require upgrades, according to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). VCH has requested capital funding from the Powell River Regional Hospital Board to carry out work to aging infrastructure. Paul Galinski photo

Powell River Regional Hospital District has been approached by Vancouver Coastal Health for capital funding for projects valued at $1,325,944 for the hospital district.

On January 30, the regional hospital district committee of the whole heard a presentation from Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), outlining upgrades at Powell River General Hospital and Evergreen Care Unit. Staff members were directed to bring back options to fund the cost-share request.

At a meeting of the regional hospital district committee of the whole on Thursday, February 13, regional directors reviewed the request for upgrades. A staff report indicated VCH’s infrastructure is aging, that there is a lack of capital funding, and the majority of VCH’s capital funding is targeted to maintaining its core business. The report stated there is a risk that failure to make the building repairs could result in further damage to the infrastructure.

The projects include upgrades to the hospital pharmacy, replacement of chillers at the hospital, building envelope repairs at Evergreen and roof replacement at Evergreen.

City director George Doubt said for the $1.325 million borrowing request, there were borrowing scenarios for five-, 10-, 15- and 20-year repayment.

“My question is: what is staff’s recommendation on the repayment schedule? said Doubt. “That will impact how much the taxpayer is paying for these projects.”

Manager of financial services Linda Greenan said it was recommended the money be borrowed over five years, an impact of $5.09 per $100,000 of assessed value for the residential tax rate. She said the reason for five years is the regional hospital board has debt renewal in 2024 for Willingdon Creek Village, so this will give the board time to gauge whether that interest rate will be increasing or not.

“Then, we can maintain our original reserve and borrow money and have it paid off in the five years in time for that borrowing to renew,” said Greenan. “At that point we could start to put money into the reserve again.”

Chief administrative officer Al Radke said the board was involved in a 60-40 costing split with VCH and is also involved in a tripartite agreement Sunshine Coast Regional District and Squamish-Lillooet Regional District. He said he thinks it is unfair that the board, all of a sudden, accepts a delegation and there is a big ask that comes about.

“We would be much better served if we could engage with them (VCH) and see what their longer term things are and where their commitments may lie,” said Radke. “If they can set up where they’d like to see things, we can make those adjustments at our end and start to build up our reserves.”

He said if the board had the information it could make a more educated decision going forward.

“The greater lead time we have, the more time we have to put those funds aside so when they walk through the door, perhaps we have some of that money sitting in a nest egg,” added Radke.

Doubt said he was going to make a motion to refer the matter back to staff for a report on the implication of this borrowing on the requisition amount needed for the hospital board, taking into consideration the other forward-looking financial requirement in the report the board had from VCH.

“I would really like to see us understand what it is we are giving when I look at the impact of $5.09 per $100,000 of taxable value,” said Doubt.

He said they were talking about significant tax increases for the regional hospital district on top of the regional district taxes.

“We should all know what we are talking about before we do that,” added Doubt.

Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said board members had expressed concerns that they do not feel fully in control of this. He said he supports strategic planning around the regional hospital district for board members to understand, and for communications with the public.

“Part of that is a strategy on how we communicate with VCH and maybe the ministry of health about our ability to fund projects like this,” said Fall. He added that it was important for VCH and the ministry to understand the limitations of a small regional district to absorb costs like this.

Radke said he thinks VCH needs to be educated so its ask of the regional hospital district can be qualified for what it can afford.

The regional hospital district committee of the whole voted to refer the matter back to staff for a report. The committee also carried a motion that a strategic planning session be scheduled for the regional hospital district board.