Quorum court refuses to pass hospital expansion to voters
Published by Jeff December 20th, 2006 in News.With a vote of 5-2, the Drew County Quorum Court denied the request put to them by the Drew County Memorial Hospital Board to place a referendum on the ballot as early as March 2007.
The Pine Bluff Commercial has the full story here.
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Why would anyone who is a taxpayer criticize representatives on the quorum court for not wasting money on a special election on a tax issue for a new $21 million county hospital?
Elections already cost taxpayers from $3,000 to $5,000. These representatives obviously have represented my interest as a taxpayer by putting an issue critical to the maintenance of county roads ahead of expanding the hospital.
The last time the local newspaper carried monthly reports on the status of hospital finances the hospital lost money more months than it made money.
The hospital’s emergency room has been enlarged and remodeled and carpeting has been torn out of the halls and replaced with linoleum and the administrative offices and waiting rooms renovated in recent years. The bottom line has not turned from loss to profit simply because improvements were made.
This thinking does not compute. This is not a ball field, it’s a hospital improvement, and simply building it does not mean, they will come.
With all the improvements under discussion the next measure offered up will be a tax for hospital maintenance, a tax for employee raises and a tax for
new equipment.
When will this insanity end?
The plan for expansion does not come about because DMH wants newer or nicer. At the community medical summit this was discussed at length. The plan for expansion is so that new services can be provided. Services that are not currently available. New areascould be utilized for the most used services while incorporating efficiencies and cost savings and the older parts could be retooled for other services. No one in their right mind would ask taxpayers to pass a tax for new carpet and paint just so things would look better. The employees at DMH truly want to provide the very best care available to the people of the community.
In response to your first question, I am a taxpayer. I don’t feel that this would be a waste of money and just as your JP represented your interest he or she did not represent mine. That is specifically why it should be a vote. The criticism of the QC is gnot that they represented your interest and not mine, the criticism is that some of them are poorly informed, uninterested in being informed and arrogant about it to boot. When 9 people represent the interests of a community the size of Drew County, they bear a heavy burden. They were interested in putting forth the money and energy to get elected. Why not respect the people that elected them and put a little bit of that effort toward their job as a JP?