By Jay Ermis
The Walker County Hospital District board of managers adopted a new budget and a lower tax rate for the fourth straight year during their regular meeting Wednesday at Huntsville Memorial Hospital.
Adopting a budget for 2009 and a tax rate funding the budget were among 15 items on the agenda.
Bob Hardy, Johnny West, Susan Vanderheydt and Ron Lang approved the budget totaling $5,670,868, and the effective tax rate of $0.1537 per $100 of valuation.
Hardy, who serves as board of managers chairman, said $3 million are collected from tax revenues, $2 million collected in rent and $500,000 collected from the Texas tobacco fund settlement and hospital district investments.
Hardy said $3.7 million is spent on indigent care and health services, and $140,000 goes toward administrative services.
The balance is used to fund to keep facilities updated.
Hardy said the hospital district was created in the fall 1975 and the first tax rate in 1976 was set at $0.3500 per $100 of valuation.
“Since 2004, we have been reducing the tax rate,” he said.
The tax rate prior to the adopted $0.1537 rate was $0.1600 in 2007, $0.1720 in 2006 and $0.1825 in 2005.
Hardy said the 2007 effective tax rate was $0.1641, “but we set a rate of $0.1600.”
He said the $0.1537 tax rate will generate the same amount of money as the $0.1600 per $100 of valuation.
The board of managers also approved $232,400 for Huntsville Memorial Hospital to make capital improvements to bring the standards of a HMH building up to current life safety codes.
The board also approved contributing $100,000 into the Medicaid-UPL program to help fund recruiting doctors.
“Our $100,000 with matching funds will benefit the hospital with about $260,000,” Hardy said.
The board of managers also approved payment of indigent care bills and UTMB Indigent Health Care Services Agreement for 2008-09.
