Town of Gibsons Mayor Silas White is the Sunshine Coast Regional Hospital District (SCHRD) board chair for 2023. On Jan. 26, in a meeting hosted at the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) offices, the director for the Town of Gibsons was acclaimed to that position by his fellow board members, the other SCRD area directors.
There was also only one candidate considered for the 2023 vice chair’s position. Area E (Elphinstone) director Donna McMahon accepted that role.
2023 budget setting and other meetings
The other piece of business conducted at the meeting was adoption of this year’s meeting schedule. On March 23, the group is scheduled to assemble to consider adoption of the 2023 budget and the bylaw that would set the rates for property taxes to be collected in all SCRD areas to pay for that approved spending plan. According to the SCRD’s website, SCHRD funds are typically used to provide 40 per cent of the annual capital funding costs for the region's hospital facilities. The province and other funding partners, including groups like the Sechelt Hospital Foundation provide the balance of funds needed for those purposes. (Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is responsible for the delivery of health care in the region.)
McMahon asked about timing for a review of the SCRD’s memorandum of understanding with VCH, which outlines the process followed by the parties to agree on voluntary capital cost share funding requests. SCRD chief financial officer Tina Perreault responded that a meeting with the SCRD board to discuss those and other issues is slated to be set up by VCH in the coming months.
SCHRD meetings have also been scheduled in April, July and October.
