INSIDE

Hospital district election has supporters stressed

By Meg Olson

If each member of the enthusiastic but anxious crowd that came to the recent meeting on the proposed hospital district for the Point gets one friend to vote with them, the district is a sure thing.

Of 72 community members at the January 20 meeting, not one said they were opposed to the new district, which will insure ongoing funding to make up the operating shortfall of the Aydon Wellness Clinic, though some worried the vote-by-mail election and a nebulous levy amount would drive away voters.

Ballots began arriving in Point Roberts mailboxes the day of the meeting and there was already confusion about the two items on the ballot: approval of the hospital district and election of three commissioners to oversee it. “There may be people who choose to just vote on the candidates,” Bruno Moras said from the audience. “It’s a two part vote,” Point Roberts Pioneer Project board member Shannon Tomsen explained. “If you don’t say yes or no to the hospital district your ballot is no good.” Other audience members worried those unfamiliar with voting by mail would forget to sign their return envelope, or ballots being spoiled by hanging chads. The ballots need to be postmarked by February 8 election date.

The Pioneer group will pay for the election, which will be by mail only to decrease costs and increase turnout, according to county auditor Shirley Forslof. “You have more people voting in a vote-by-mail, especially in a special election,” she said. To pass the measure will need support from a simple majority but will need at least 260 people, or 40 percent of the number who voted in the last general election to cast ballots. Over 300 people signed the petition to put the district formation to the voters.

Five candidates are vying for a spot on the three person district commission: Margaret Biery, Barbara Bradstock, Margaret Moras, Victor Riley and Dick Williams.

Forslof said the candidates will run at-large and the person who gets the most votes will get the longest term. Terms for the commissioners will be staggered, with initial commissioners up for re-election in the subsequent three general election with terms to be lengthened subsequently to six years. Margaret Moras encouraged hospital district supporters to actively get out the vote. “Talk it up to whoever, in line at the market, don’t be afraid to be bold,” she said.

Voting for the hospital district is voting to keep the local health clinic open, said Pioneer Henry Rosenthal. “The public health district is absolutely vital to this community,” he said. “At the end of April the clinic will close unless we develop this public hospital district.”

The Pioneer group got the clinic started using federal grant funding and is now looking to form a hospital district to make up through tax assessments the operational shortfall implicit in operating a clinic in a small community like Point Roberts.

If approved the district can legally levy a maximum of 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The levy would be set by the newly elected board to meet the operating shortfall of the clinic, which Ralph Hill, executive director of the Interfaith Clinic that now operates the clinic, estimates to be $80,000. Tomsen said the board would hold public hearings before setting the levy to determine if the community wanted to pay more for more services, such as longer hours, or wanted to keep taxes trim by trimming services. To collect the current $80,000 estimated shortfall the levy rate would be approximately 32 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or $32 a year for a $100,000 home. As the population of the Point increases Tomsen speculated, patient numbers and assessed valuation would go up – meaning the tax per homeowner would go down.

At a November 23 public hearing on the proposed election issue county deputy administrator Dewey Dessler spoke in support of the hospital district in Point Roberts. “These clinics are being used nationwide to provide healthcare for people in rural areas,” he said. Hill said the proposal is “the only way the community can maintain access to healthcare facilities.” County council members were unanimous in supporting the February 8 special election. “It is a creative solution for the community to address its healthcare access issues,” said council member Laurie Caskey–Schreiber.

Nurse practitioner Virginia Lester said since opening in the summer of 2003 the clinic has provided health care to far more patients than they had estimated in applying for the grant. The grant projected the facility would have 800 patients after three years but Lester said “we have 1,554 patients after one year and eight months.” She added the clinic was also performing many services not originally anticipated, from house calls to lab work in the on-site laboratory run by her husband Ed.

At the January 20 meeting audience members had only praise for the clinic and especially for the Lesters, who drew a loud standing ovation, but there were questions about how much it was going to cost to keep it going.

“When you talk 75 cents per $1,000 it scares a lot of people away,” worried Ann Christi, after a half hour of audience members pressuring Pioneer Project Members for a solid budget, a solid shortfall, and a solid taxation level that would pay for it. “This will cost us some money but we do not know how much,” said Henry Rosenthal, speculating the initial levy would be between 10 and 40 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. “That figure is not going to be accurate until we find out what the needs of the community and the clinic are.”

Tomsen said the Pioneers, not being elected officials, had not wanted to make decisions more appropriate to the three commissioners who will also be selected in the coming election. “There’s so much these people are going to have to do,” Tomsen said, deciding what things would be managed by the board and what would be taken care of by contract with a service provider like Interfaith, setting a levy to collect taxes in 2006, determining levels of service and coming up with a budget.
In an earlier interview Pioneer Mark Millman said the new commission will take over from the Wellness Clinic board during a transition period in which both groups may have to scramble to keep the clinic doors open. The grant under which the clinic now operates expires in April 2005, but the new hospital district won’t be able to collect taxes until 2006.

One option will be to borrow. “I’m constantly surprised at how different hospital districts are from other taxing authorities,” Millman said. One difference is that commissioners commit their tax revenue to repay a loan. “You might borrow something and pay it off over the next three years, run at 50 cents for a while until you pay it off,” Millman said. Another option would be to apply to the federal government to release leftover grant dollars not spent in the term of the grant. “It’s not something we can count on but it would be expected,” Millman said. They will also look at stretching reserves and local fundraising.

Victor Riley, a candidate for hospital district commissioner said that issues like levels of service, levy rate and the clinic’s budget will all be decided in public meetings. “This process will be very transparent to you,” he said. ‘One of the things the commission will want to do is take a look at all the pieces and we will want you there. The first choice is very simple. You either want the clinic or you don’t. Make that choice first.”