Commissioners discuss hospital district

Discussion regarding putting the formation of a hospital tax district on the 2024 election ballot took place at the June 18 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC).

The proposed district would add taxes in certain areas in Carbon County to go towards the Memorial Hospital of Carbon County (MHCC).

MHCC Board of Trustees members Garry Goergen and Jerry Steele presented the plan to the BOCCC.

“Our hospital is in dire financial straits quite frankly,” Goergen said. “I think we’re probably the only critical access hospital in the state that doesn’t have some other means of public support besides just in-care patients and collecting money that way.”

The formation of the district would require approval from the BOCCC to be put on the ballot. After it is put on the ballot, voters in the affected areas would determine whether or not the district is formed.

Carbon County Clerk Gwen Bartlett gave a presentation on the proposed area for the district. The area would include the northern part of Medicine Bow, Hanna, Sinclair and Rawlins. Areas in the current active healthcare districts and the Platte and Little Snake River Valleys are not included in the proposed district. The proposed areas could change in the future.

An elected board of hospital district directors would also be put on the ballot, which would be separate from the current MHCC Board of Trustees.

Bartlett said the district would provide an estimated $1.5 million for the hospital based on the 2024 evaluation. This rate could fluctuate and change based upon the levy amount determined by the elected hospital district directors.

She said that in some counties where hospital districts have been implemented, the district would take ownership of the hospital building and control its operation.

“The ones I’ve heard about no longer operate as a county memorial hospital,” Bartlett said. “I’m not saying that’s how this one has to happen, but that’s one I’ve heard of operating.”

Commissioner John Epsy asked about the timeframe for the district being implemented.

Bartlett said if the district were passed in the November 2024 ballot, the funding would not be received until at least October 2025.

A motion to publish notice of the proposed resolution to put the hospital district on the ballot passed unanimously.

The resolution for the hospital district will be discussed in the August 6 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners at the Carbon Building Courthouse Annex in Rawlins.

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be July 15 at 9 a.m. at the Carbon Building Courthouse Annex in Rawlins.