Almost 200 people listened to the pros and cons of getting an Orange County hospital district Thursday night. Many of them gave their opinions and commented on why they will vote ‘for’ or ‘against.’
The forum was at Lamar State College-Orange and college President Dr. Michael Shahan after his welcome asked the audience “to be polite and civil.”
Orange County Judge Brint Carlton started by explaining how the district will operate. He pointed out the county already has two independent districts, the Orange County Drainage District plus the Orange County Port and Navigation District. The two have their own taxing powers and are run by elected boards.
* County Commissioners Court will not operate the district. Commissioners will appoint the first board of directors to the hospital district, with one member from each county precinct and the fifth member at-large. After the initial board is formed, citizens will voted on the hospital board directors. The directors will not be paid for serving on the board.
* The ballot restricts the proposed hospital district from taxing more than 18 cents per $100 valuation. That maximum rate would cost the owner of a $100,000 house $180 a year. The tax rate could not be raised higher without an election.
Some hospital districts, including the Jasper County Hospital District, have been able to operate with zero property taxes.
* Under state law, Orange County is too large to use a sales tax to pay for a hospital district.
* The board will decide whether to buy land and build a hospital. No location has been picked. The board could decide to partner with an existing hospital company, which could build and run a hospital.
* Under state regulations, the ambulance service must take patients to an emergency room connected with a hospital. Ambulances cannot take patients to a private, free-standing emergency clinic.
* Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas owns the former Orange Memorial Hospital, later Baptist Hospital Orange, on Strickland Drive. The county has nothing to do with the building and cannot use it. An effort to get a U.S. Veterans Administration hospital at the site has not been successful.
Citizens petitioned to call for the election to form a hospital district after Baptist Hospital Orange closed. The hospital in 2013 closed the maternity ward and then in 2015 stopped in-patient care. The emergency room closed in January this year.
David Covey (right) of Mauriceville represented the side against creating the hospital district. He said he is the Orange County Republican chair and the party is opposed to more taxes and another layer of government.
A hospital district with taxes “will be a burden on you, your children and your grandchildren,” he said.
Covey said everyone thinks the county needs a hospital, but a hospital district charging taxes is not the answer. More research needs to be done for other options before forming another government entity. “It’s not guaranteed we get a hospital just because we have a hospital district,” he said.
His research, he said, shows only 100 people needed to sign a petition to call the election, but 7,950 petition signatures will be needed to call an election to abolish the hospital district.
Covey also does not like the “fear tactics” of saying people could die without a hospital.
Businessman Ross Smith (left) represented the group supporting the hospital district. He said citizens have tried, without success, to get another hospital in Orange. The district will be able to support the hospital getting federal funding along with Medicare and Medicaid. That means an outside group could partner with the district.
He said the idea is to get a small hospital with 12 to 20 beds and “a good emergency room” affiliated with another hospital.
Existing hospital companies are willing to work with a hospital district, but will not open a hospital here without one, he said. “Some things are worth paying a tax on,” he said about the district.
Smith also pointed out Baptist Hospital was one of the largest employers in the county. A new hospital will provide jobs for a variety of people.
Audience members were mostly split on support for the district. Orange businessman Cullin Smith said the county should try to get the state legislature to pass laws allowing the private, free-standing clinics to operate a hospital. He said the clinic in West Orange is willing to build a small hospital if state law would allow.
People also said even with a hospital in Orange County, Bridge City residents will go to the Port Arthur hospital and residents in Vidor will go a hospital in Beaumont.
The last audience speaker was physician Dr. Calvin Parker, an Orange native who has had a medical practice here for 20 years. He said the county will not be able to attract new doctors without a hospital.
A few years ago, the county had all kinds of specialists, except one for open heart surgery. After Baptist Orange closed, the only cardiologist has moved to a city with a hospital. Now, the county has three specialists and a few family doctors, he said. Some will be retiring and no young physicians will come here unless they have a hospital to serve their patients.
Early voting for the December 19 hospital election starts Monday.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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