It's an exciting time for Southern Health-Santé Sud.

Ken Klassen is the Vice-president of Finance and Planning for the RHA, and reports a surplus of $5.8 million has been achieved. To put it into perspective, Klassen outlines, out of the $400 million budget, the surplus amount makes up 2.5% of it.

Klassen explains this year, all the RHAs in the province worked individually to move the health care system forward as a whole. He explains the RHAs looked at ways to cut costs, by conducting overviews of the operations. He adds they also received unforeseen funding.

Klassen calls the news of a surplus excellent for them; a surplus allows them to utilize funds in many ways. He explains some of the possibilities include: redirecting, investing, and saving.

When redirecting, Klassen points out the RHA usually redirects funds to high priority areas. When investing, the RHA looks to opportunities that may produce cost avoidances. With regard to saving, the RHA can put the surplus funds into an accumulated surplus account which can aid future projects.