Monroe hospital postpones levy vote

Published 11:13 pm Monday, May 25, 2009

MONROE — Valley General Hospital, which hasn’t raised its levy rate since 1991, had planned to ask voters in August to approve a tax increase.

With the weakened economy, even a community group that backed the proposal told the board: Maybe next year.

Hospital board members agreed, deciding to delay the levy request.

“It just wasn’t the right time,” said Mike Quackenbush, treasurer of Partners for Progressive Health Care, a group formed to support the levy increase.

Although the group found that voters understood the need to increase financial support to the public hospital, informal polling indicated that this wasn’t the year, Quackenbush said.

Many voters aren’t aware of how much the hospital is absorbing in charity care, left with bills from people who are uninsured and others who can’t pay, he said.

In addition, the hospital’s levy rate of 8.6 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property is the lowest of any public hospital in the state, according to a recent study of hospital finances by Moss Adams accounting firm. The owner of a $300,000 house pays an annual hospital tax of $25.80.

“It’s peanuts,” Quackenbush said.

Hospital board member Alice Cabe said that voters told the levy committee the reason they couldn’t support a tax increase was simply the tough economic times.

“We have to respect that,” she said.

In March, the hospital board and administration said they planned to take a levy increase proposal to the voters during the primary election. If approved, it would have increased the levy, or tax, from 8.6 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value to 35 cents.

It would have paid for building improvements, including installation of energy-efficient windows, hiring more specialty doctors and the possibility of opening an urgent care clinic in the Cathcart-Clearview area.

Many of those plans will be put on hold, but not all of them, said John Beltz, chief financial officer.

The hospital will spend about $500,000 for improvements, such as roof repairs, painting and landscaping. The projects will probably be completed by the end of the summer, he said.

The roof repairs are needed to stop leaks in areas of the hospitals where patients are not treated, such as a meeting room, Cabe said.

“You wait to fix that, without having the roof degrade, until you have the dollars to do it,” she said.

Refinancing of a current bond issue will allow the hospital to save about $3.9 million.