Hospital board calls for tax vote
The hospital district board serving east St. Mary has called for elections on two propositions aimed at bringing labor and delivery services back to Ochsner St. Mary. One of the propositions is a new 5.5-mill property tax.
The two voice votes Wednesday by the St. Mary Hospital Service District No. 2 board, both without objection, could put the propositions on the ballot Oct. 14 if the St. Mary Parish Council and the State Bond Commission approve.
The votes came despite an objection by Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna that the wording in the property tax proposition is too vague to persuade voters.
The hospital district covers the area from Calumet to Amelia, and it owns the Morgan City hospital operated under lease by Ochsner Health.
In a controversial move, Ochsner ended labor and delivery services at the hospital here effective April 1. The company cited an aging population; what it characterizes as a small number of deliveries at the hospital; and Ochsner’s consolidation of obstetrical services in its Bayou Region at Ochsner St. Anne in Raceland.
Last month, Ochsner Bayou Region CEO Fernis LeBlanc said the company is willing to work with the district to find a way to keep obstetric services at the hospital.
The tax proposition adopted by resolution Wednesday reads:
“Shall Hospital Service District No. 2 of the Parish of St. Mary, State of Louisiana (the ‘District’), levy 5.5 mills tax on all the property subject to taxation within the District, for a period of 10 years, beginning with the year 2023 and ending with the year 2032 (an estimated $2,000,000 reasonably expected at this time to be collected from the levy of the tax for an entire year), to be used by the District to improve, maintain, and operate hospital and other health care facilities in the District, to include providing and supporting labor and delivery and pediatric services, physician recruitment, and community outreach?”
The second proposition rededicates money from a tax that is no longer collected for facilities, maintenance, furnishings and equipment. About $719,000 is available from that source.
The second proposition says:
“Shall Hospital Service District No. 2 of the Parish of St. Mary, State of Louisiana (the ‘District’), be authorized to rededicate revenues previously restricted for improving and maintaining hospital facilities and acquiring equipment for the additional purposes of providing and supporting labor and delivery and pediatric services, physician recruitment, and community outreach?”
That wording differed from drafts presented by attorney William E. Bourgeois. After a lengthy closed-door session, the language about pediatric services was added to the two propositions, and references to “specialty services” were deleted.
The propositions that passed also dropped references to other primary care services, such as family practice, gynecology and internal medicine.
“We want to be clear to the community that this is intended for primary care services with an emphasis on obstetrics/pediatrics,” board Chairman Dr. William Cefalu said after the meeting.
Dragna objected to the draft proposition on taxes, saying it wasn’t specific enough.
“I believe you’re so vague that it won’t pass,” Dragna said.
The mayor pointed to the April 29 passage of a half-cent sales tax for police and firefighter pay in Morgan City. The tax proposition drew the support of 87% of the people who voted.
“We were very specific about what we wanted to do,” Dragna said.
He also said the language about improving and maintaining facilities could also be a problem.
The district’s bond counsel said the language is necessary to meet legal requirements, Bourgeois told the board.
Bourgeois said that if the 5.5-mill tax passes, the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $13.75 a year in additional taxes. The owner of a $150,000 home would pay $41.25, and the owner of a $200,000 home $68.75.