LETTERS: Hospital, CEO does not support tax increase years ago
To the Editor:
Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the article concerning the hospital situation in Marion County. Hillsboro Community Medical Center board of directors has always held the medical needs of our community as our primary focus.
Our mission is to provide quality health services that are responsive to the needs and values of the community we serve. We try to live that mission every day. The possibility of hospital consolidation, new forms of health delivery, various financing alternatives, new technologies, etc., have been discussed and debated many times.
We welcome the county commission's involvement in working with us to plan for the health care needs of the citizens of this county. There are many advantages, many strengths in having a two hospital system in Marion County. The possible loss of more than 100 jobs in a community could have a devastating impact on the families involved and on the local economy. This is an extremely complex issue that deserves to be thoroughly studied and analyzed.
Of immediate concern from the reporting of the presentation at the county commission meeting is the plan to increase taxes in the western half of Marion County. The tax increases we recently have seen for our aquatic complex, school bond issue, and the anticipated need for county jail improvements makes us questions whether now is the right time to consider an additional 10-mill increase in our taxes.
Again, thank you for this opportunity to dialogue with the public about the health care needs of our county and how those needs can best be met.
Michael J. Ryan,
Administrator and CEO, and Board of Directors,
Hillsboro Community Medical Center
