[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Hospital to have one-time 30-mill tax on April ballot

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Hospital to have one-time 30-mill tax on April ballot

Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on January 08, 2014 at 5:18 PM, updated January 08, 2014 at 6:43 PM

The St. Bernard Parish Hospital Service District will ask parish voters in
April to approve an additional, one-time 30-mill tax that would bring in
about $9 million for the hospital.

The St. Bernard Council agreed on Tuesday evening to put the measure on the
April 5 ballot, although most councilmen made it clear that they were
skeptical about whether the non-profit hospital should receive more money.
Several councilmen also tried to get more details on how that money would be
used and said the ballot language was too vague, giving the hospital too
much free reign in spending it.

The 30 mills would cost a homestead-exempt owner of a $150,000 home about
$225 more for that tax year. It would cost the owner of a $200,000 home
about $525 more.

The $9 million collected would represent roughly a 30 percent increase in
the hospital's operating revenues for the year, based on the hospital's 2014
budget projections.

Jim DiFatta, chairman of the hospital's board, told the council that "the
hospital could go on and continue on dragging water and scratching and
fighting," but that "the board doesn't want this hospital simply to survive,
it wants it to thrive... and drive this hospital to flourish for the
remainder of time."

"The last thing the hospital wanted to do was to come to the people and ask
for this one-year millage," DiFatta said. "... But we know that this is the
right thing for the people."

He said the millage would "invest in this hospital to get us over the top."

Often on Tuesday evening, DiFatta acknowledged the struggles of the
hospital, saying "revenue building is a beast in a hospital," and "I have
never have had to endure this amount of complexity."

In terms of how the money might be spent, he emphasized that it would help
hire specialists so that residents would no longer need to be transferred to
other metro New Orleans hospitals for procedures that the hospital currently
cannot handle. DiFatta said specialists are money-generating tools for
hospitals.

DiFatta also pointed to needing a new accounting system, as he said the
hospital's current computerized accounting system, which cost the public
hospital more than $1 million, is not fulfilling the hospital's needs.

Still, the hospital's 2014 budget, also approved by the Parish Council on
Tuesday, does anticipate making more in revenues than expenses in 2014 --
which would be a first for the parish hospital.

When the hospital opened in the fall of 2012, the nonprofit Franciscan
Missionaries of Our Lady Health System was set to manage the hospital, and
provide its CEO, for five years. But the Franciscan Missionaries pulled out
of its agreement to manage the $70 million facility in Chalmette soon after
the hospital's opening.

The Franciscans cited differences in management philosophies, and former and
current hospital staff described contentious working relationships because
of the managerial style of Wayne Landry, a former board hospital board
chairman who is now the facility's interim CEO and current board secretary. 

Along with the Franciscans' pullout, the nascent hospital saw about half of
its administrative managers leave or resign within the first few months of
its opening.

In response to the Franciscans departure, Landry said at the time that the
Franciscans had left because they wanted to operate with "layers and layers
of management," whereas the hospital board wanted to run the business more
frugally.

As part of the hospital's initial arrangement with Goldman Sachs, which
provided much of the hospital's financing, the hospital board signed an
agreement that the facility would be run by a third-party manager.
But in March 2013, Landry told the council that Goldman Sachs, after
reviewing the hospital's operations, had agreed to allow the facility to be
self-managed.

At that point, Landry also said he soon would be stepping down as the
hospital's CEO, that a third-party company would be making assessments of
potential replacements, and that he'd like to see a new CEO takeover the
reins by May or June 2013.

Landry did not speak at the council meeting on Tuesday and did not
immediately returned a request for comment on Wednesday. DiFatta on Tuesday
answered councilmen's concerns about Landry remaining at the helm, largely
by emphasizing that Landry is holding the position without compensation.

DiFatta also said it has been challenging to find a qualified CEO. He said
hiring a new CEO should be easier if the $9-million millage is approved,
thereby allowing the hospital to get on better financial footing. 

The 2014 budget states in its "New Hire Summary" that the board would hire a
CEO by July.

In November 2010, St. Bernard residents backed a 10-year, 8-mill tax to keep
the hospital afloat during its first three years of operation, a period when
Landry and others always said the hospital's revenues would be less than
expenses.

But the timing of that election prevented the parish Assessor's Office from
including the hospital millage onto tax bills for 2010, so it became a
9-year millage instead, losing the hospital about $2.3 million.

The parish had been without an emergency room or full-service hospital since
Hurricane Katrina swamped Chalmette Medical Center. That private hospital
never re-opened, and has since been demolished.