The local November general election ballot just got more interesting, as if voters did not already have enough to consider in the proposal to form a Methow Aquatics District.
As reported in last week’s Methow Valley News, the little hospital that has survived aspires to evolve into a modern facility that endures.
Three Rivers Hospital has placed a $72 million bond issue proposal on the November ballot, asking voters in Okanogan Douglas Hospital District 1 (including the Methow Valley) to support construction of a new hospital to replace aging facilities that date back to 1949. The 30-year bond issue, which must be approved by a 60% supermajority, would impose an additional $1.39 per $1,000 of assessed value on property owners in the 2,500-square-mile district, which includes portions of both Okanogan and Douglas counties.
It’s a “huge ask,” as hospital district commission Chairman Mike Pruett — a Methow Valley resident — acknowledged in last week’s coverage. But the hospital’s leaders, guided by the recommendations of consultants, have concluded that rebuilding from the ground up is the best way to keep the hospital alive and vital. Three Rivers has pretty much run out of band-aids.
It’s also important for Three Rivers to maintain its status as a “critical access hospital” that provides affordable, accessible care in rural areas. Other than the other public hospitals in Omak and Oroville, the closest sizable facilities are in Wenatchee. As one hospital commissioner noted, it’s not a realistic long-term strategy to expect other communities to accommodate our local health care needs.
It’s also a critical time for the health care industry, which is suffering from staffing shortages, gaps in care and pressure from insurers to contain costs. Cutbacks and consolidations have become commonplace. Three Rivers’ choice to move forward with a long-term view is commendable. It also carries some risk.
In Washington, bond issues require 60% approval, despite efforts to reduce that to the simple majority required for levy requests. In effect, a “no” vote carries more weight than a “yes” vote, which makes approval a huge challenge for bond issue supporters. It’s not unusual for bond issue requests to require two or more tries over several election cycles to win approval. Three Rivers will go that route if necessary.
Three Rivers is a public nonprofit hospital (as are the other two hospitals in Okanogan County), which means there is no big corporate entity to provide financial backing. In a sense, residents of the district are shareholder partners in the hospital, and appropriately exercise some oversight at the ballot box. If the bond issue is approved, residents won’t have to wonder where the money went. They will see it in the new facilities.
As circumstances would have it, many of the same voters who are being asked to approve formation of a Methow Aquatics District will also be asked to approve the Three Rivers Hospital bond issue in November. Even if voters like one or the other, will they be willing to support both, and take on the additional tax burden that implies? The proposals also come as property value assessments are going up dramatically throughout the county. The proposed aquatics district is within the larger hospital district. If you are a property owner, it’s not that hard to do the math.
There’s no way to know how residents are making those calculations until the votes begin being counted. Meanwhile, as we have urged with the aquatics district proposal, we encourage you to become familiar with what the hospital district’s intentions are and how they intend to achieve them. These are two issues where informed voting is especially important, as both ballot measures have long-term consequences for the community.
Voters have demonstrated their faith in what for decades was called Brewster Hospital (and still is by some longtime locals) by approving levy lid lifts and renewable annual levies to support emergency room operations — often by sizable margins. At the same time, grassroots support for the Wagner Memorial Pool in Twisp is what has kept that facility going beyond what could have been its predictable lifespan. They are both institutions that, it can be convincingly argued, we cannot do without. The choices will be hard. But they are in our hands, and that is what local determination is all about.
