Hospital bond issue -- a tough decision for voters

The broad arguments are easy to summarize.

On the "yes" side there's the need for quality health care out here in a desert community with little else to entice top notch health care professionals other than an expensive new facility and a rich earning environment.

On the "no" side is the fact that $115 million is a lot of money for taxpayers to have to pony up as the community heads into lean times. Add to that the lingering suspicion that the money may not be spent in the most efficient manner possible.

Yet there are still a lot of undecided voters out there. And I'm one of them.

Others have gone into great detail about certain aspects of the issue; in particular, see MyWestTexas.com here, here, here, here, here, and here. See Jessica's Well here, here, and here. And see Newsroom Stew here, here, here and here. Good points have been made by all. And the bond proponents FAQ lists the things they expect the money will buy.

These are frustrating times for taxpayers as we see what is going on in Washington and marvel at their don't-worry-be-happy attitude about the huge national debt. And locally tax revenues have increased from 30% to 40% between 2002 and 2007 while population during that time increased by a mere 10%. (Source: Newsroom Stew.)

So how much would the hospital bond cost individual taxpayers? The aforementioned FAQ tells us that property owners should expect an additional tax assessment of $0.066 cents per $100 of appraised value along with a helpful reminder that those over 65 can vote for it and expect others to pay their share. Then there's this astonishing statement: "Many believe - as did Memorial Hospital's founders and this generation's philanthropists - that 6.6¢ is a small price to pay for a top-notch hospital when you or someone you love needs it most!"

And with that bit of hyperbole we are compelled to wonder just what price the Midland Appraisal District will place on our houses. House prices nationwide have taken a tumble lately, but the value on which our houses will be taxed will be the one the Appraisal District decided was a fair market value as of January 1, 2009, regardless of what the market has done in the months since then. And the Appraisal District values were determined by the reported sales prices of houses in the vicinity of the house being appraised, and those sales had to have taken place prior to 2009. So in a falling market the appraised values will likely be unrealistically high.

But here's another straw to toss on the camel's back. The last day to vote in the hospital bond election will be Saturday, May 9. And if the person I spoke with today at the Midland county Appraisal District was accurate, they hope to mail out the new appraisals to taxpayers on Monday, May 11. Darn. Missed it by that much. It's almost as if the bond proponents knew when those appraisals would be mailed when they selected the vote date.

Comments

[James]

There is also the positive impact the hospital improvements should have on the economy to consider.

[Rosalind Redfern Grover]

Sleepless, if you are undecided, I would like to urge you to attend one of our 3 remaining town hall meetings:

1. Wednesday, April 28 at 6 p.m., St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 3011 West Kansas
2. Monday, May 4 at 7 p.m., Golf Course Road Church of Christ, at Golf Course Road and Andrews Hwy
3. Wednesday, May 6 at 7 p.m., True-Lite Christian Fellowship, 3001 North A

The presentation and the questions and answers afterwards take about an hour and it is well worth your time. You will find that it will help decide the issue for you one way or the other.

I would also like to take this opportunity to correct an incorrect statement on the Citizens FOR the Hospital Bond website. Property taxes are NOT frozen for those over 65 in elections for the city, county, college or hospital. That exemption applies only to the Midland Independent School District bond elections. That will be corrected on the website immediately.

And lastly, Midland County Hospital District has no authority to set the date for elections. The district is given two times a year that it may hold elections, one in May and one in November, and the dates for those elections are selected by the Secretary of State.

Thank you, and I hope you to see you at a town hall meeting.

Rosalind Redfern Grover
Chairman, Campaign for Tomorrow

[Michael]

The Hospital lost $13,000,000 last fiscal year under the same CEO, who fixed the problem by requiring payment be made prior to service (on non emergency and elective surgeries). However, Mr. Meyers fails to mention that this policy went into effect in January of 2008 (roughly) meaning that over half the Fiscal Year was under that new policy. Furthermore, Mr. Meyer along with the Hospital Board chose to solve the problem by requesting the resignation of Larry Sanz, CFO. Interestingly enough this was done AFTER Mr. Sanz worked many overnight sessions to prepare the following year's budget! In fact, the budget that was prepared by Mr. Sanz is being used for this Fiscal Year. So, if he was the problem, why is the budget that he created being used?

Enter Mr. Bowman, who was hired as the new CFO at a tender salary of 180K (with little experience, Why did he leave an Odessa Hospital to become an Assistant Controller?)and tada! the hospital is making money, again. I would conjecture that some "iffy" accouting practices are being used.

In conclusion, during Mr. Meyer's term as CEO he has created many, many new departments in the Hospital, most of which were not revenue generating, but merely introduced more fixed costs to the system.

Also, has any information been given on the outstanding revenue bonds that the Hospital already owes and cannot qualify for more? Revenue bonds are generally used by Hospitals for construction projects because that tax is passed _directly_ to the people using the facility, not the entire tax-base.

[ospurt]

I know it is popular to slam local officials, sometimes by name, about finances, but the truth of the matter is few people are fully versed in the hospital's audits and budgets, because they don't post them on the internet for all to see, you actually have to stroll down to the hospital and request them. So, most of these figures that get thrown around are pure conjecture and rumor.

Did the hospital lose money, after a fashion yes, but so have a lot of other health care facilities in the area. Medicare reimbursements to the hospital dropped almost $3 Million over the last fiscal year (look it up at window.state.tx.us "Where the Money Goes") and then there was the increase in labor and energy costs of last summer and a one time baloon payment on an old bond.

Medicare payments and reimbursements have been the center of lots of blown budgets and failing facilities. It was widly reported that medicare collections and reimbursement problems caused Alliance Hospital in Odessa to seek out ORH to purchase them before they went bankrupt.

Personally, I can't really hold the hospital management responsible for the actions of the State and Federal Government and the way they pay.

Maybe the hospital needs to post their budgets and audits and let those of us who know how to intrepret them see what the numbers really say about the mismanagement of the hospital locally, because throwing around "figures" isn't illuminating the issue and providing a basis of facts to make the best decisions for our community.