[StBernard] Following St. Bernard Hospital tax's rejection, board expected to discuss hospital's future

[Westley Annis]

Following St. Bernard Hospital tax's rejection, board expected to discuss
hospital's future

After St. Bernard Parish voters Saturday decisively rejected a one-year,
30-mill tax for the parish's hospital, the entity's board of directors is
expected to discuss the hospital's future at a meeting Tuesday evening.

The St. Bernard Parish Hospital Service District board of directors is set
to meet at 7 p.m. in the Parish Council Chambers, 8201 W. Judge Perez Dr. in
Chalmette.

About 80 percent of the 5,443 parish voters on Saturday struck down the
proposed millage, which would have raised $9 million for the hospital. The
results meant that about 21 percent of registered parish voters came out to
the polls to cast ballots on that tax, according to the Secretary of State's
office.

In early voting, 1,322 parish voters cast ballots, with about 70 percent of
those votes against the proposal.

About 1,500 more voters casts ballots on the hospital tax than during a vote
on a 15-mill Sheriff's Office tax last April. There also were about 1,000
more votes in the Saturday election than for a 20-mill fire tax in December
2012.

Both of those previous two millages passed. The Sheriff's Office tax passed
with about 60 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, the fire department tax
squeezed through with a margin of only about 300 votes.

The hospital tax would have cost a homestead-exempt owner of a $150,000 home
about $225 more in 2014. It would cost a homestead-exempt owner of a
$200,000 home about $375 more.

Wayne Landry, the hospital's interim chief executive and board secretary,
said last week that, if the tax had passed, about $2.8 million would have
gone toward hiring specialists, about $2 million would have gone toward
creating a hospitalist program, and about $4.2 million would have gone
toward a new medical recording and billing system.