Published October
2002
Valley
General’s
bond-measure vote falls short
By
Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor
A tax increase to
pay for $42.5 million in improvements to Valley General Hospital in Monroe
was defeated by voters in September, and it has not yet been decided when
the measure will be put back on the ballot.
Voters in the public
hospital’s taxing district, which takes in Snohomish, Monroe, Sultan,
Gold Bar, Index and surrounding unincorporated areas, voted Sept. 17 on
a construction project that would have doubled the hospital’s size.
Needing a 60 percent
“yes” vote to be approved, 53.4 percent voted in favor of the bond measure
and 46.6 percent against, with a total of 16,987 votes accounted for as
of Sept. 25.
Officials at Valley
General, disappointed by the results, said they understood that the uncertain
economic times made support for another tax a difficult decision for many
households.
“The good news is
that (53) percent of district residents supported the expansion — a solid
majority,” said Martha Dankers, director of community relations. “But
trying to achieve a 60 percent ‘yes’ vote in this environment is no easy
task. We do need to understand our community’s vote on this and will be
analyzing the data.”
At a special meeting
Sept. 19, the hospital district’s board of commissioners decided not to
place the measure back on the ballot for November, Dankers said, adding
that a future ballot date was still under consideration.
“We will continue
to be out in the community,” getting the message out about the hospital’s
need to expand, she said.
Since 1990, emergency
visits to the Monroe hospital have grown 94 percent, according to Valley
General figures. Inpatient and same-day surgeries have grown 282 percent,
and imaging services are up 380 percent.
That growth has reflected
the increase in population in the hospital’s service area. Between 1990
and 2000, for example, Monroe’s population grew 223 percent, Sultan’s
50 percent and Snohomish’s 31 percent, according to the hospital.
To address such growth,
Valley General put together an expansion plan that includes:
- Increasing the
size of the hospital’s surgery capacity from three operating rooms and
three procedure rooms to six operating rooms and four procedure rooms.
- Increasing inpatient
beds from 25 to 34.
- Increasing emergency
capacity from nine bays to 16, plus eight observation rooms.
- Increasing the
birthing unit from five birthing suites to nine birthing suites, two
postpartum recovery rooms and one C-section room.
- Increasing the
imaging department from five rooms to 13 rooms.
Under the failed
bond measure, taxpayers would have paid a maximum of 48 cents per $1,000
in assessed property value. The exact amount would have depended on interest
rates when the bonds were issued. At the maximum 48-cent rate, the owner
of a $200,000 home would have been taxed an additional $96 a year for
the hospital, beginning in 2003.
An existing 11 cents
per $1,000 maintenance and operation bond issue will remain in effect
until 2008.
Despite the recent
setback, Valley General is committed to continuing and expanding health-care
services in eastern Snohomish County — and putting the bond measure back
on the ballot, Dankers said.
“Valley General must
expand to continue to provide the quality services that hospital district
residents deserve,” she said. “The pressures in our ER, imaging, surgery,
outpatient will not go away. The population increases will continue in
east county. Traffic congestion will only worsen.”
—
Herald Writer Sharon Salyer contributed to this report.
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