Hot Springs Hospital District receives nearly 70 percent support
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THERMOPOLIS - Hot Springs County voters determined the future of the Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, voting in a hospital district, financed with a series of tax increases. Faced with overwhelming state budget and Medicare and Medicaid cuts, some feared the hospital couldn’t maintain at its current level, and when allowed three years ago, formed a political action committee to form a hospital district.
Voters Tuesday passed the measure by 67 percent with a vote of 1,688 for, and 809 against, according to the Hot Springs County Clerk’s office. A separate one-cent sales tax increase, to fund the district and hospital upgrades, passed by a vote of 1,643 to 947.
Based on the final vote, Hot Springs County Commissioner Brad Basse sees the creation of the district as a positive step forward. “I think the margin of success in the passage of the district shows a very strong support for the idea of the district and the construction of a new facility,” said Basse on Wednesday. “There was a potential for division before, where this vote shows us that there’s a statement of unity.”
Basse believes the hospital district measure drove voters to the polls, as evidenced by extra ballots that had to be produced and hand-counted by the county clerk’s office. Clerk Nina Webber verified that the department produced 26 extra ballots, ultimately delaying the final vote count until around 10 p.m., although she didn’t attribute the cause to the hospital vote alone.
“We had a huge increase of registrations at the polls,” said Webber.
According to Basse, with the appointment of the new hospital board and passage of the district and tax measures, the work can begin to transition to a hospital district, and prepare to the design phase of the new hospital facility.
“It will take some time for the tax revenue to come in and set up a smooth transition, so there won’t be an immediate effect to the hospital, other than perhaps increase morale,” said Basse. “There had been some issues with doctor recruitment, but that should smooth out and after the transition the [hospital] board can look at a hard budget and development of a new hospital.”
The Hospital District Board includes Tuesday’s elected members, Bill Williams, Josh Conrad, Jim Wilson and David Koerwitz (four-year term), and Dan Herdt, Heith Overfield and Breez Longwell Daniels (two-year term).
