Voters will decide Nov. 2 whether to increase a countywide sales tax by 1⁄4 of a cent to go toward a new Allen County Hospital.
Members of the Allen County Healthcare Committee address questions about the issue.
Q: Why don’t we just renovate the present Allen County Hospital?
A: There are several reasons replacement is better than renovating the present hospital:
1) The present site is too small to add the needed spaces on a ground level; 2) The cost of renovation is projected to be over 15 percent more than replacement; 3) The timeline to renovate the hospital and still keep it open for patients is about eight months longer than to build new and patients would be inconvenienced during the renovation work; 4) Only 85 percent of the design and structural issues may be solved with renovation whereas 100 percent of the design and structural issues may be solved by building a new building on a new site; 5) Medicare reimbursement, which is part of the bond repayment funding, would be less for remodeling than for building new.
In summary, renovation is not a good solution because the site is too small, the cost is higher, it takes longer to complete, it creates an inconvenience for patients, it only solves 85 percent
of design and structural limitations and it provides fewer Medicare dollars in project funding to repay the bonds.
The best option is to build a new hospital on a new site.
Yes! Allen County Healthcare
