A gift from the B.C. government to ratepayers in the region who pay into the Thompson Regional Hospital District.

Speaking at this morning’s board meeting, Todd Mastel, Interior Health’s Corporate Director of Business Operations said that cost overruns to complete the second phase of renovations at Royal Inland Hospital will not be borne by local taxpayers.

“$40 million was the net pressure that we talked about and talked to the board as part of our request in March which the board declined,” Mastel said.

“We worked with Ministry, and Ministry is providing the full $40 million for us to continue with the project without any major changes to the scope of work.”

The costs to complete the renovations, which includes a new emergency department, ballooned to around $107 million because of supply chain delays, higher construction costs, and labour shortages.

Here’s the budget slide shared during today’s @TNRD hospital meeting.

Original project budget – including the new tower and the renovations – was around $417 million before it ballooned to about $457 million.#Kamloops pic.twitter.com/riC1JlRNky

— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) June 20, 2024

Back in March, the hospital board declined to fund the $16 million it was asked for, saying they were frustrated by a lack of communication from Interior Health.

“We heard the conversation on the communication that was not adequate on our part,” an apologetic Mastel said. “That will not happen on the Kamloops Cancer Centre project.

“This was not us trying to withhold information, it was a very hectic time with a lot of people trying to get a handle on why and what could we do about it.”

Mastel also said there was the hope that the overruns would have amounted to around $12 million, but noted that it “turned into $40 million.”

“In the end, delaying  further any of the items that were in the phase 2 scope of work…they were all critical needs, it would just be more expensive down the road,” he said. “I can assure you we’ll be communicating more regularly as we move through the Kamloops cancer centre project.”

“We will not be in this boat again.”

In March, Hospital Board Chair Mike O’Reilly said if the TRHD was to cover $16 million of the total cost overruns, it would have meant a nearly 30 per cent tax increase this year. The board had already approved a five per cent increase to pay for its share of the Kamloops Cancer Care Centre.

“This was a good day for healthcare in the Thompson Regional Health District,” O’Reilly said Thursday. “Our residents deserve this and they’ve deserved it for a very long time. We know that its not the end [but] at the end of the day, the whole region won today.”

“We can’t forget at the beginning of the presentation form Interior Health of the cost overruns of the emergency room about [$16 million] that was not borrowed by the taxpayers of the RHD.”

Interior Health previously told Radio NL that while some of the phase 2 renovations will be done by the end of this year, the entire project is set to wrap up by fall 2026.

Earlier this week, the Province also said that construction on the cancer centre is s still expected to begin next summer and be “substantially” complete by 2028.

That project will also include $55-million in upgrades to existing cancer care services at RIH, including an expanded pharmacy as well as the relocation and expansion of the Community Oncology Network clinic.

Those renovations are expected to get underway in 2026 and be “substantially” complete by 2029.