Published October 2002

Valley General’s
bond-measure vote falls short

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

A tax increase to pay for $42.5 million in improvements to Valley General Hospital in Monroe was defeated by voters in September, and it has not yet been decided when the measure will be put back on the ballot.

Voters in the public hospital’s taxing district, which takes in Snohomish, Monroe, Sultan, Gold Bar, Index and surrounding unincorporated areas, voted Sept. 17 on a construction project that would have doubled the hospital’s size.

Needing a 60 percent “yes” vote to be approved, 53.4 percent voted in favor of the bond measure and 46.6 percent against, with a total of 16,987 votes accounted for as of Sept. 25.

Officials at Valley General, disappointed by the results, said they understood that the uncertain economic times made support for another tax a difficult decision for many households.

“The good news is that (53) percent of district residents supported the expansion — a solid majority,” said Martha Dankers, director of community relations. “But trying to achieve a 60 percent ‘yes’ vote in this environment is no easy task. We do need to understand our community’s vote on this and will be analyzing the data.”

At a special meeting Sept. 19, the hospital district’s board of commissioners decided not to place the measure back on the ballot for November, Dankers said, adding that a future ballot date was still under consideration.

“We will continue to be out in the community,” getting the message out about the hospital’s need to expand, she said.

Since 1990, emergency visits to the Monroe hospital have grown 94 percent, according to Valley General figures. Inpatient and same-day surgeries have grown 282 percent, and imaging services are up 380 percent.

That growth has reflected the increase in population in the hospital’s service area. Between 1990 and 2000, for example, Monroe’s population grew 223 percent, Sultan’s 50 percent and Snohomish’s 31 percent, according to the hospital.

To address such growth, Valley General put together an expansion plan that includes:

• Increasing the size of the hospital’s surgery capacity from three operating rooms and three procedure rooms to six operating rooms and four procedure rooms.
• Increasing inpatient beds from 25 to 34.
• Increasing emergency capacity from nine bays to 16, plus eight observation rooms.
• Increasing the birthing unit from five birthing suites to nine birthing suites, two postpartum recovery rooms and one C-section room.
• Increasing the imaging department from five rooms to 13 rooms.

Under the failed bond measure, taxpayers would have paid a maximum of 48 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value. The exact amount would have depended on interest rates when the bonds were issued. At the maximum 48-cent rate, the owner of a $200,000 home would have been taxed an additional $96 a year for the hospital, beginning in 2003.

An existing 11 cents per $1,000 maintenance and operation bond issue will remain in effect until 2008.

Despite the recent setback, Valley General is committed to continuing and expanding health-care services in eastern Snohomish County — and putting the bond measure back on the ballot, Dankers said.

“Valley General must expand to continue to provide the quality services that hospital district residents deserve,” she said. “The pressures in our ER, imaging, surgery, outpatient will not go away. The population increases will continue in east county. Traffic congestion will only worsen.”

— Herald Writer Sharon Salyer contributed to this report.

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