Health care

EDITORIAL

By now you’ve probably gotten your tax bill and, if you live inside the Rockdale city limits, you will have noticed a new entry.

There’s a 6.5-cent tax from the Rockdale Hospital District. It’s going to support the new CHI St. Joseph’s-Healthpoint clinic which will open Monday on the campus of the former Richards Memorial Hospital. (See page 1A)

If you’ve been following the unfolding Reporter stories of the attempt to return health care to Rockdale in the wake of last year’s closing of our town’s medical facilities, you weren’t surprised about the new tax.

If you didn’t know about it, almost certainly the new tax bill has gotten your attention.

The main question Rockdale taxpayers are asking is this: “How long will this tax be in effect and at what rate? The only honest answer is “nobody knows but a lot depends on what happens next.”

And a lot of things are percolating.

The Rockdale Hospital District, which has the authority to impose a property tax, and did just that, originally thinking a 16.9-cent tax would have to be imposed. That went down to 6.5 cents after the district decided to use reserves to get the clinic going.

It’s important to note those reserves won’t be there very long. This year’s and next year’s rates will be 6.5, and, if nothing happens, the health care tax will go to 16.9 in 2021.

“If nothing happens” is the key phrase. What could happen?

There are several ideas. The hospital district has asked for half-cent sales tax it used to collect for the hospital—collected for the past 10 years by the Rockdale Municipal Development District—to be returned.

That would dramatically lower the tax. But there has not been anything like a groundswell of support from the public for that idea.

The city council has been asked to call an election on the matter but it doesn’t appear that’s likely to happen anytime soon. At the last council meeting, after the request was discussed, Mayor John King asked where the supporters of such an idea were, after noting none had attended that evening’s public hearing on the matter. “They ought to be standing (out the door and) in the parking lot,” he said.

The hospital district is also going to seek an election to expand its boundaries from those of the city to those of the Rockdale ISD, gathering tax revenue from a greater area and diluting the tax burden on Rockdale residents.

Other ideas floated have been to fund Rock-dale health care through a South Milam County, or even a countywide, approach.

It should be noted that in each of those cases, residents who don’t live in Rockdale would be asked to vote to increase their own taxes to fund primarily Rockdale-based health care.

In brief, that’s where we are. Where we go from here will be determined in upcoming months. It may involve one, a combination of, or none of the scenarios described above.

The only certainty is that you’ll be hearing a lot more about the situation very shortly and community input will mean a great deal.—M.B.