It’s final. In a 5-0 vote, the Sonoma Valley Hospital board on Aug. 6 decided to seek a $35 million, 20-year general obligation bond in the Nov. 4 election for current site infrastructure upgrades only.
Unlike the prior, failed measure F, this bond will buy no land, no new separate facility planning and no prior planning costs. “The purpose of the bond is first and foremost to continue to provide critical emergency room (ER) services,” said Chief Executive Officer Carl Gerlach. He clarified his use of the term “critical” by saying “emergency services are critical to this community.” He said the hospital’s goal is make maximum use of the existing site facility.
Director Bill Boerum read aloud the formal resolution, which states the bond will “… preserve essential emergency room services by upgrading existing outdated buildings and equipment, meet state-mandated earthquake safety standards, upgrade energy, electrical, surgical and information technology systems, rebuild the hospital’s central utility plant, and refinance debt incurred to retrofit the west wing of the main hospital building.” Proceeds of the bond “shall be used only for costs incurred in connection with funding of the project and the cost of the issuance of the bonds, and not for any other purpose, including staff and administrator salaries and other operating expenses.” The resolution stated that expenditures will be monitored by a citizens’ oversight committee to be established within 90 days after the election “to ensure bond proceeds are expended only for the projects authorized by the ballot measure.”
The final bond description differs slightly from the description proposed in the prior board meeting in that the term will be 20 years not 21, and the tax impact on homeowners – $13.69 per $100,000 of assessed value to homeowners – will actually be less.
As the board prepared to vote, Director Mike Nugent said, “We’re going to inject a level of confidence we haven’t seen in the medical community. We’ll be able to recruit the physicians we need. I think it’s going to be a wonderful renaissance for our hospital.” He added, “You can think of the cost as ‘a dime a day.'”
Hospital GO bond budget includes:
Central utility plant (CUP) and components – $20.4 million
Prior infrastructure debt – $4 million
HVAC upgrades (air handling, and air conditioning) – $2.3 million
West Wing seismic upgrades – $2 million
Information technology (IT) – $1 million
Electrical panels – $700,000
Master Plan required by SB306 – $600,000
Medical equipment – $400,000
