Rockdale Hospital District directors unanimously voted Thursday to impose a 6.5-cent property tax on district residents, currently those who live within the 1994 Rockdale city limits.
That’s 10.4 cents lower than the original 16.9 cents proposed. Tax revenue will go to the new CHI St. Joseph’s-Health Point Clinic at the former Richards Memorial Hospital.
Dick Burns, board chair, said the district will use a savings account “from money saved by the district over many years” to reduce the tax burden.
“This is essentially for the first year,” he said. “This (savings account), could only provide support for three years. But that’s what it’s there for.”
WILD CARDS—But there are also two wild cards for which the district is hoping.
Health Point is applying for a Federally Qualified Health Center New Access Grant which would be a long-term annual grant to provide a revenue stream for the clinic.
And Burns reiterated a pair of elections to expand the district’s boundaries to those of the Rockdale ISD would further reduce the rate for Rockdale taxpayers.
“With the grant and expanding the district the ad valorem tax rate would be less than one cent,” he said.
For those elections to happen a petition signed by 50 voters in the school district, but outside the Rockdale city limits, would need to be obtained.
Then there would be two elections, one in the city limits and one in the portion outside the city limits but within the school district.
“Both would have to pass for the expansion to take place,” he said.
“This process would have to begin pretty soon to get the elections on the ballot for next May,” he said.
NO MDD—Imposition of the property tax may be the end of the road for the hospital district’s quest to reclaim the half-cent sales tax that’s been collected by the Rock-dale Municipal Development District for the past nine years.
“It could still happen if there’s a movement by the public to obtain that,” Burns said. “But the hospital board could not wait any longer. This (property tax) resolution has to be delivered to the tax assessor-collector and Milam Appraisal District by Sept. 15.
But he admitted they hoped for public support sought by the hospital district for a grass roots movement to reclaim the MDD sales tax has never materialized.
“The MDD’s ‘no’ was actually a ‘no’ to the citizens of the district,” he said.
Chief Appraiser Dyann White told The Reporter that the only exemption granted in hospital district taxes is a $3,000 senior citizen exemption, which was okayed on Sept. 17, 2003.
“At this time, there is no tax freeze allowed by the Hospital District. For senior citizens that means that they will have a Hospital District tax based on their appraised value minus $3,000,” she said.
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