Modoc County Voters Appprove Hospital District and Tax

Friday, September 03, 2010

On August 31, 2010 a special election was held in Modoc County for all landowners who lived within a twenty mile radius of Modoc Medical Center. The County has been in dire straits and has been facing the possibility of bankruptcy because of a 14 million dollar debt. This debt has accrued over the last ten or more years based, for the most part, on debts incurred by Modoc Medical Center.

United Public Employees of California (UPEC), Local 792, saw that there was a real problem and without a hospital district and a parcel tax the hospital would be forced to close its doors which would impact all of the residents of Modoc County. Business Manager, Chris Darker, and Union Relations Representative, Christine Perry, met with the “Save Our Hospital Committee” and saw the need for financial support. The information that was gathered was taken back to the UPEC Executive Board who voted to send the committee $1,000 to help with their campaign. This was all done with the full knowledge that if the campaign was successful UPEC would have to work to seek re-representation of the members and that the existing Memorandum of Understanding would be null and void once the new district took effect. The other alternative was that if the vote failed, the hospital would close its doors, and the approximately one hundred employees, that we represent, would be out of jobs.

On Election Day approximately 63% of the eligible voters showed up at the polls. Both measures required a two-thirds approval (super majority). The tax measure will assess a $195 a year parcel tax on all land owners within this twenty mile radius and should generate approximately $3.1 million a year for the hospital. This measure passed with 68% of the vote. The other measure was to create an independent health care district. This measure passed with 70% of the vote.

The hospital will be giving each land owner that is charged the parcel tax a $150 credit voucher for the hospital for services rendered. This credit voucher system will then be reviewed annually.

This election is the first step in getting the entire County of Modoc back on the road to recovery and saving many jobs.