Hospital vote nears

Some area residents have questioned the need for — and reasoning behind — the nearly $100 million hospital bond Measure C.

But officials with the Tahoe Forest Hospital District say it all adds up.

Sent out the last week of August, the mail-only ballot asks registered voters within the hospital district to support or oppose a $98.5 million bond to upgrade hospital facilities and meet new mandatory seismic standards.

There are no polling places, so all ballots must be mailed back to Placer or Nevada County registrars by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25.

Opponents of the bond measure in recent letters to the Sierra Sun have described the hospital as a private, profit-generating entity, but Executive Director Maia Schneider of the Tahoe Forest Hospital Foundation said this is not so.

“We are not a private, profit-driven hospital,” Schneider said. “We are owned by the community like the schools or the police department.”

The population within the hospital district consists of roughly 36,000 people, she said.

Schneider said that out of a yearly $120 million budget, $4.3 million comes from tax revenues, which currently is one-10th of 1 percent of the taxes local property owners pay the state of California.

“The tax is the same today as it was 60 years ago,” Schneider said.

If approved, Measure C would cost property owners an average of $9 per year per $100,000 assessed value over a 30-year period, 80 percent of which, Schneider contended, would be paid for by second homeowners.

“They will pay 80 percent because second homeowners as a group tend to buy bigger homes more recently than many of our full-time residents,” Schneider said.

Since the hospital district cannot pay for the campaign, Schneider said volunteers have raised about $120,000 so far to conduct the campaign.

Denny Dickinson, a Truckee resident and community activist, said he questioned why other projects are being included in the bond beyond the state-mandated seismic retrofit.

“I suggest voters vote ‘no,’ and have the hospital board come back asking for a more realistic number,” Dickinson said.

Hospital polled priorities

Schneider said the additions were a result of multiple community surveys.

The hospital adopted the size of the proposed bond measure after identifying $191 million in necessary or desirable projects. The hospital then whittled the amount to $98.5 million when surveys showed the community gave top priority to an emergency room, cancer center and long-term care, Schneider said.

The surveys also showed between 60 and 71 percent support for the $98.5 million bond, she said. The measure needs two-thirds support to pass.

The bond would fund four projects — an expansion and enhancement of the emergency room, bringing it to state regulation compliance, expansion of the cancer center, renovation or replacement of long-term care, and the state-mandated seismic retrofit, which is required by 2013, Schneider said.

The improvements to clinical areas will cost $1,000 per square foot, as opposed to the same facilities in the Sacramento or Reno/Carson areas, which would cost $700 and $500 per square foot respectively, Schneider said.

“It just costs a lot more to do business at 6,000 feet,” Schneider said.

She said both county registrars have agreed to start counting ballots as they come in by mid-September, and said she expects to hear the results the night of the 25th.

Dickinson also said he questioned why the new western addition, originally projected to cost $30 million, but finally costing $46 million, was built when the hospital knew the seismic work would still be required.

Schneider said the new addition, along with the proposed renovations in the new bond measure, bring the hospital up to a modern standard of care.

And if the measure doesn’t pass by the needed two-thirds majority?

“If the hospital is unable to complete the seismic retrofit by 2013, they would have to shut down labor and delivery, and relocate four other departments out of the old building,” Schneider said. “There is really no other source of funding, so the board would have to look at programs to cut or modify. The board is looking at it, but hoping it’s not an issue we have to face.”

Dr. Steven Thompson, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Tahoe Forest Hospital, said the hospital now delivers more than 400 babies per year, and without labor and delivery facilities within the hospital district, those births would have to go to Reno.

“The problem would be when someone can’t make it to Reno, they show up to the [emergency room], and that can be problematic,” Thompson said.

Measure C by the numbers September 25: Ballots due, not postmarked by $9: Average cost per year per $100,000 assessed value with bond $1,000: Cost per square foot of construction $120,000: Cost of campaign for Measure C, not paid by hospital $98,500,000: Total bond amount