POMEROY–The Garfield County Hospital District (GCHD), has decided to run a Special Levy again in 2020, after its failure to receive enough votes to pass in November, 2019. This decision was made in light of the announcement by Jim Heilsburg, CFO, that the GCHD will run out of money to operate by September, 2021.

Heilsburg explained how Medicare reimbursements work, which is a complicated process of filing cost reports and waiting several months to a year later for audits and adjustments which may result in a payment due to Medicare, or a payment received from Medicare. During these “float” times, the GCHD needs funds to continue operating. If the special levy is successful in 2020, the funds will not be received from the taxpayers until 2021.

Four dates in 2020 were discussed as possible election dates for the special levy: February 11, April 28, August 8, and November 3. The November 3 date is the only one that will not cost the GCHD to run it. Commissioner Steve Cannon asked if there is a benefit to running the special levy before November 3. Wolf replied that having the levy in place will help to recruit new providers, so sooner would be better for that purpose. Jayd Keener, co-CEO, added that if the special levy is run at one of the earlier dates and fails again, they would still have the option of running it once more in November.

Heilsburg added that November 3 will be a presidential election, and the voter mentality will be different at that time. He stated that April would give them plenty of time to plan for the special levy election, plus time to plan to run it again in November if needed. Wolf added that if they planned to run it in April, they could have town hall meetings in January, February and March, which everyone agreed would be necessary to gain voter support. Commissioner Steve Cannon stated that they can do better at the town hall meetings than before and suggested that they bring in people from the Fire District, County Commissioners, and other entities to speak about how the success of the GCHD affects them as well.

Commissioner Gary Houser commented that to run a special levy in April, the board will have to work hard to get it ready that soon. He added that it is important to find out why people voted against it in November, and address those concerns. He believes people will support a levy if they believe it is being run efficiently. He suggested that there needs to be some “introspection of the hospital board” to find out why the special levy failed.

Aaron Stallcop, Fire District No. 1 Commissioner said he has been frustrated by the “somewhat lack of action on the part of the board.” Kris Darby, Garfield County Fire Chief, commented that when making ambulance calls in the county, patients most often request other hospitals rather than here. He further stated that the GCHD Board has not inquired why people request other facilities.

Heilsburg responded that “Everybody in the community has an opportunity to come together and work together to solve the problem. Creating new foundations is hard, but it can be done.” Keener added that it is “easy to throw one entity or another under the bus here.”

Houser made a motion to run the special levy in April, which was seconded and approved unanimously by the board. The Resolution to run the levy will be prepared and signed at the next regular board meeting in January. As a parting statement, Houser said that he wanted the people of Garfield County to know that he came on the board with the idea that the hospital district could avoid needing to have a special levy to continue operating, but he no longer believes that way. However, if they don’t find out why people didn’t approve the levy in November, they won’t be successful in passing another one. To the employees of the GCHD, he said that it is not the responsibility of the GCHD to stay open just to employ them, but that it is a needed service to be provided to the community. And to the GCHD board, he advised them to avoid getting caught up by the ideas of others, and to be skeptical and ask questions.

In other business, the budget for 2020 was approved and Resolution 19-09 for the 2020 Budget was signed by the commissioners. A 2020 Budget Summary was made available to the public attending the meeting, which gave an overview, but no details. Board Chairman, Cindy Wolf, said a complete copy of the 2020 Budget is available through a Public Records Request.

The next regular meeting of the GCHD board at the Senior Center on Main Street is on January 6, 2020 at 6 p.m.