Valley General Hospital bond deserves support

The last time Valley General Hospital officials asked voters to say yes to a bond issue in the early 1990s, they had to go back three times before it was approved. East county residents in this hospital district should say yes the first time to the bond issue scheduled to appear on their Sept. 17 ballots.

That area of our county has seen tremendous growth in the last decade and its needs for a strong community hospital have grown, too. Currently, many people have to make the trek to Everett to receive certain medical treatment. Given our traffic woes and the complications of some medical procedures, that can be a real burden for people — and an unnecessary one for those with a community hospital in their own backyard.

Hospital officials have demonstrated this bond isn’t about turning Valley General into a major trauma center on the same level as Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, or a cancer center hospital.

"We really are there to meet appropriate community needs," said Martha Dankers, hospital spokeswoman.

Expanding the community hospital would mean building larger facilities in the areas of emergency, surgery, imaging, nursing and the birth center. It would also allow the hospital to offer other necessary services such as outpatient chemotherapy, something community members told the hospital they wanted to see provided at Valley General.

Officials have shown fiscal responsibility by carefully examining whether to build on site or move to a new one. When they discovered how much more it would cost to move, they stopped exploring that option and focused on what they could accomplish with their existing site on 179th Avenue in Monroe. They rejected the idea of constructing a parking garage when they realized how difficult and expensive that would be, too. And they have sought public response through numerous outreach meetings in neighborhoods, churches and other group gatherings.

The expansion is expected to cost $42.5 million. That price tag means the owner of $200,000 home would pay $96.60 a year in additional property taxes starting in 2004. That might be discouraging to some homeowners during these rough economic times. But the tax wouldn’t be felt until 2004, allowing time for the economy to pull out of its slump and make improvements. And that annual amount will gradually decline over the years because of growth in the property tax base.

Voters everywhere will have to make difficult decisions this fall about just how much to tax themselves. People served by Valley General Hospital should have confidence the money will be used responsibly to meet the community’s basic health care needs.

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