During a rare public debate, Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 board members split over a request to back a proposed tax increase for Southwest Memorial Hospital.<\/p>\n
At the Re-1 board meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 13, hospital officials outlined plans to upgrade the 40-year-old facility. The $16 million upgrade would include building an inpatient wing and ambulance garage and remodeling existing facilities to consolidate clinics under one roof.<\/p>\n
The project would be funded largely by a proposed sales tax. In next month\u2019s election, Referendum 5A MCHD would require a 0.4 percent sales tax \u2013 4 cents per every $10 spent on items excluding groceries, prescription medication, residential utilities and nonlicensed farm equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not our position to approve tax hikes,\u201d said Re-1 board member Sherri Wright.<\/p>\n
Wright explained that she supported efforts to improve medical care but not an official resolution to support the tax increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe we\u2019re overstepping our bounds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Alex Carter replied that board members could adopt the resolution, but weren\u2019t obligated to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not atypical for a board to pass resolutions of support,\u201d said Carter.<\/p>\n
Re-1 board member Jack Schuenemeyer, whose wife, Judy, chairs Southwest Memorial Hospital\u2019s board, countered, stating the community needed better medical care, and the \u201cfate of the school and the hospital are intertwined.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board members Pete Montano and president Tim Lanier sided with Schuenemeyer.<\/p>\n
Newly appointed board member Mike Tanner reiterated that the board didn\u2019t need to endorse an outside organization\u2019s tax proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have our own funding issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The resolution passed 3-2, with Tanner and Wright voting against it. Brian Demby abstained from the vote, citing a financial conflict.<\/p>\n
If approved by voters on Nov. 3, the tax likely would go into effect in March and sunset in 15 years.<\/p>\n
The Montezuma County Hospital District and Southwest Memorial Health System boards are helping to fund the proposed upgrade.<\/p>\n
MCHD has pledged $1.5 million from its mill levy revenue, and Southwest plans to put savings from leases \u2013 about $200,000 per year \u2013 into the main campus.<\/p>\n
Private donors have also chipped in about $330,000.<\/p>\n
Southwest Memorial Hospital employs about 400 people, including 22 physicians and 34 medical staff members.<\/p>\n
In 2014, it provided services to nearly 215,000 area patients and made nearly 2,500 emergency transports.<\/p>\n