24 hour notice for special meeting as board will vote on the General Obligation Bond
For the last few months, whispers, and even whimpers, could be heard around the valley as the Kern Valley Healthcare District began it's drive to talk residents of the Kern River Valley into voting for a bond which will raise property taxes throughout the hospital district.
The General Obligation Bond was previously intended to pay off a debt that had been plaguing the hospital for 24 years now because of a seriously flawed financial venture which included a construction project that was never completed, revenue not generated as well as services and staffing cuts.
The community was put up as collateral as if the hospital cannot pay the community will pay anyway, until every dime is retrieved by the insurer of the original debt.
These were your elected officials (KVHD board members) who made this decision as your representatives and not many people I have spoken to lately even know they are the one's ultimately responsible for paying this debt.
Even though at the July regular board meeting, the talk was about having a special election next year, which would cost approximately $50,000, but would give them single coverage as it will be their own election, the focus on them and not regular election candidates.
Now, a KVHD special meeting is being called and until tomorrow we won't know which board members will vote to put this extra burden on a valley in serious financial trouble.
Obviously, the administration which includes, Chief Financial Officer, Chet Beedle, has singled out the bond as the only way to proceed.
The hospital has been paying on this 22 million dollar debt for 24 years and now if the community passes the GOB in the November election, we will pay for 30 more years.
But here's the twist, within those 30 years, the hospital will be required to replace the whole building, meaning... more property taxes.
I'll report back and let you know which elected board members voted to pursue a community for monies that were caused by bad decision making and bad advice. And an obvious cover up that the community is the "collateral" and will pay for the decisions these board members and administrative employees have made.
Update and illumination after the meeting...
However, let me add one thing: putting this on the November ballot is not costing anything, so they are ready to give it a try, even if there plans have been rushed together over the last six months. My guess is that they will put it on the ballot in November and if they cannot achieve a 2/3 majority vote, they will go ahead and try the special election next year.
Below is the agenda for the meeting:
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
AGENDA
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 – 4:30 p.m.
Location: Administrative Conference Room
A. CALL TO ORDER
B. GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND CASH FLOW STATEMENT Information
Chet Beedle, Chief Financial Officer
C. GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND MEASURE Action
Timothy McGlew, Chief Executive Officer
D. FORMAL COMMUNITY SURVEY Action
Ernest Flores, Caldwell, Flores, and Winters
E. ADJOURNMENT
Persistance and Tenacity, requires a new chapter, a new beginning....
I got a question to you, I have got calls about the hospital recently and my husband wants to know why. what is this for, we heard they want to build a new hopital. Are we going to have to pay for this we do'nt have money to do it. we can't pay more. what are we going to do.
ReplyDeleteI have a comment!! I understand that you have no money, because every one in the Valley is broke!!! But you also do not have an education use spell check next time!!!! A new Hospital is not what the bond will be used for, it will be use to upgrade the services with in the hospital.
ReplyDeleteIf this bond is not passed who will pay for to upgrade the services. "Nobody"
Well Mr. Anonymous, She may not use spell check, but you can't type; and the grammar? Ha ha ha. And no; it will not be used to upgrade the hospital. It will be used to pay down our debt enough to get more credit to do these things. That will then put us in more debt that we won't be able to pay and they'll want more money then.
ReplyDeleteIt's like paying down a credit card and then they boost your limit. This is the cycle we've been in now for years because of the financial mismanagement of our district and the refusal to address the mistakes of the past and have them resolved. Like the last bond we passed, that was supposed to build the big nursing center that was gonna pay for itself blah blah blah. How has the hospital dealt with this loss? They haven't. Who got sued? Was there insurance on that project? Who was responsible for the cost over-runs? These questions have never been addressed. And they want to raise our taxes with another GOB? They're trippin'.
Maybe just maybe if they were to tell the public the truth and ask for ideas we could work our way out of this mess. But with attitudes like another "Anonymous" commenter expressed, I'm not hopeful. That person thought the problem was all those indigent and medi-cal patients. I've seen Medi-cal patients treated, like they Were the problem too. It's why many people will drive down the canyon if they can. Leaving the folks who are to poor or to sick to make the trip to Bakersfield or Ridgecrest to use the hospital.
So now we know this, how do we address it? This is the way you problem solve. Identify and resolve. Need Help? Just ask the community. And Help should not just mean MONEY! What about Ideas? But people need to feel welcome. And our board meetings are NOT very friendly.