Hospital district prepares push for property tax

Hospital Service District No. 2 board members are making plans to make their case.
Board members on Wednesday previewed video spots supporting a 9-mill property tax that will be used to repair and keep up the building that houses Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. Messages for print and radio are also in the works.
Voters in east St. Mary will be asked to support the 9-mill tax at the Dec. 7 election.
The district owns the hospital, which is operated under lease by Ochsner Health. That was a central point in the videos previewed Wednesday: The hospital is a publicly owned asset that should be properly kept up.
The videos feature Lea Hebert, head of the hospital auxiliary, and Dr. William Cefalu Jr., who practices at Ochsner St. Mary and chairs the district board.
The tax would raise an estimated $3.4 million a year for 10 years. The money, according to the district, would be used for projects including sealing the 44-year-old building to keep out moisture; installing insulated and storm-resistant windows; upgrading the heating and air conditioning; renovating patient rooms and waiting areas; and improving equipment.
The funds would also be used for scholarships for local people pursuing careers in health care, a way to deal with what is reportedly an industrywide shortage of skilled health care providers.
The district has been levied in the past but has not been for several years.
A mill is 1/10th cent of tax on each dollar of assessed valuation.
Residential property is assessed on 10% of its market value as determined by the assessor.
Louisiana’s homestead exemption will apply, so the owner of a $100,000 primary residence would pay an extra $22.50 a year if the 9-mill tax passes.
The owner of a $200,000 home would pay an additional $112.50.
Other hospital service districts rely on property taxes, the district has said. Bayou Bend Health System in Franklin imposes a 13.1 mill tax.
The tax doesn’t directly address the biggest recent controversy involving the hospital: Ochsner’s decision in 2023 to end nonemergency labor and delivery services at the Morgan City hospital. Those services in Ochsner’s Bayou Region were consolidated at Ochsner St. Anne in Raceland.
But “obstetrics care in our community remains a priority,” Cefalu told the Review in June, when the tax proposal was announced.