Current tax levies are not sufficient

The Tuesday letter “Working together for top quality care,” written by Dr. Pazevic from Stevens Hospital, clearly indicates an issue faced by many public district hospitals. With decreasing Medicare reimbursements and increasing charity care, it is challenging to keep a steady cash flow to make the continuing improvements all hospitals need. As the chief financial officer at Valley General Hospital, I understand their struggle.

I would like to make one point of correction, though, so the residents of Public Hospital District No. 1 (Valley General Hospital’s district) have a correct understanding of what they are paying. The letter states that “Many public hospital districts, such as Evergreen and Valley General, are supported with tax levies more than 10 times those supporting Stevens.” According to the 2008 Snohomish County Assessors Annual Report and the 2007 King County Assessors Annual Report, Stevens currently receives $0.1595 per $1,000 assessed value, Evergreen is around $0.50, and VGH is at $0.1258. In total dollars for 2008, that means VGH will collect $1,906,000, and Stevens will collect $3,918,000. It is possible that the comparison they were trying to make was with Valley Medical Center instead of Valley General Hospital. Either way, it is clear that both Stevens and VGH are in a position where their current tax levy is likely not sufficient.

We hope that all communities in public hospital districts will take the time to learn more about their community hospital and how they can be supportive to help continue quality health care close to home.

John Beltz, CFO

Valley General Hospital