Dr. Darrell Monfort encouraged Allen County commissioners to get out of the hospital business altogether and ask local investors to build a private hospital for the county.
Monfort, a longtime Iola veterinarian, surmised an ample number of locals exist who would be willing to invest in a hospital on promise of a 4 to 5 percent annual return on their money, or more than is available in money markets today.
“The medical industry is a sound investment,” Monfort said.
That approach would preclude any need for taxes to be a part of the funding mechanism for a new hospital, he said, noting that sales taxes are not a big component of his veterinarian business, but “increasing the sales tax, even by a quarter of a cent, will make a difference to merchants.”
The county’s efforts to identify hospital needs, through its consultants and the Hospital Facilities Commission, has “been outstanding to this point,” Monfort said, “but now it’s time to back off.
Immediate response from Commissioner Dick Works was, “Is it wrong to invest $2 a month,” which would be the cost of a quarter-cent tax on $800 in retail purchases of goods or services by an individual. A sales tax “gives everyone a chance to invest in a new hospital,” he added.
Monfort said having a private hospital also would be a tax advantage for the county.
“Maybe give it a 10-year tax abatement, but then it would go on the property tax rolls” and generate money for the county and other local governmental units that depend on property taxes revenue, he said. “I don’t think Via Christi or HCA (Hospital Corporation of America, which manages the hospital now for profit) would be interested in building us a hospital, but I think local investors would.”
Commission Chairman Gary McIntosh said he liked some aspects of what Monfort proposed.
“We’re looking for all kinds of ways that could work” to fund construction of a hospital, he said, and mentioned that donations to a foundation to help finance the hospital should be at the forefront of commissioners’ thinking. “We need to make local investments a part of our paradigm.”
COUNTY COUNSELOR Alan Weber told commissioners he was unsure just what language was required to permit Iola to contribute a portion of sales tax money it already collects to hospital financing.
“I have calls in” to attorneys who specialize in such things, he said.
Two legal twists are involved, he said: One to permit Iola to transfer money to another governing body and the second to make the proposal acceptable to those who would bid on bonds to provide the estimated $30 million needed to build and equip a new hospital and provide startup and working capital.
Iola commissioners last week said they were willing to provide up to $350,000 annually in sales tax money collected through the city’s half-cent sales tax earmarked for capital improvements.
If that occurs, county commissioners have said they would ask approval of a quarter-cent sales tax at the Nov. 2 general election, which would raise better than $400,000 a year. Without Iola’s participation, the county would ask for a half-cent sales tax.
