Hospital to voters: five more years

Looking to lock in $2.8 million a year in much-needed revenue, Sonoma Valley Hospital will ask voters to continue the current $195 annual parcel tax set to expire in 2012.

The hospital board unanimously agreed to place the measure on the March 6, 2012 mail-in ballot. It calls for extending the parcel tax for five additional years, into 2017. To pass, it needs at least 66.7 percent of the votes.

Approved in 2007 by nearly 75 percent of voters, the existing tax generates about five percent of the hospital’s revenue of nearly $52 million. The tax, then $130, was first approved in 2002 with 74 percent of the vote.

The tax helps narrow, but does not close, the hospital’s current operating deficit. The predictable revenue amount provides financial stability, administrators said, and is needed to maintain optimum service levels.