Cariboo Regional District residents won’t have to contribute as much as originally planned to pay for the $365.5 million upgrade to the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake.
The Province of B.C. and Cariboo Chilcotin Regional Hospital District have reached an agreement where the total contribution from the CCRHD will be reduced from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of total project costs, resulting in savings for the CCRHD of $36.65 million which were previously committed to this project.
The CCRHD will use approximately $52.3 million in capital reserves to finance a substantial portion of project costs. The reserves that are available were generated over the course of ten years in anticipation of this project. The remaining costs will be generated through an increase to property tax rates of $5 per $100,000 assessed value, for a total rate of $75 per $100,000 assessed property value. This increase will generate $82.96 million in revenue over the next six years, resulting in a net increase of $17 to $20 for the average homeowner, excluding changes to assessed values.
The Cariboo Memorial Hospital redevelopment project includes an addition to the existing hospital as well as renovations to the existing facility. The addition will be three storeys, plus a basement, and approximately 9,300 square metres (100,100 square feet). The redevelopment will add 25 in-patient beds for a total of 53. Work on the first phase starts this spring and is expected to finish in fall 2026. The second phase, which will include renovations to the existing hospital, will begin in fall 2026 and is scheduled to be complete in early 2029.
