cypresshealthregion


While the Cypress Health Region presented their annual operating budget yesterday, they also took a look at last year's financial results.

Larry Allsen, Executive Director of Finance for the Health Region, said they posted a $2.9 million surplus, mostly due to a large amount of staffing vacancies in hard-to-recruit positions.

"A lot of vacancies," said Allsen. "More than I have ever seen, and I've been in this industry for 25 years. When we were forecasting throughout the year, I really couldn't believe that we had that many vacancies."

Allsen added the surplus was also boosted by $150,000 in natural gas savings caused by the mild winter.

The surplus is available to the Health Region for one-time expenses, which include equipment replacements.

"We're looking at our telemetry system that is on its life cycle," explained Allsen. "We need to replace that; that could be $400,000. So these are the things, with the surplus, we have the opportunity to purchase with the knowing that we don't have to scramble to find the money."