Voters in the Rockdale ISD will head to the polls May 3 to decide the fate of a proposal to expand boundaries of the Rockdale Hospital District (RHD) from the city to those of the school district.
And possibly decide the fate of the hospital district itself.
Karolyn Puccio, RHD president, told The Reporter no decision has yet been made on the district’s future if the proposal fails, but dissolving the district is an option.
TAX IMPOSED—In August, 2019, after unsuccessful attempts to get the City of Rockdale Municipal Development District to surrender some of their sales tax collections to fund the new HealthPoint Clinic, a 6.5-cent property tax was imposed on city residents.
Directors had initially said a 16.9-cent-tax would be necessary and warned the 6.5-cent tax would jump to that figure in two years if another source of revenue was not found.
KEY VOTERS—The May 3 ballot language might appear confusing but the key factor to keep in mind is this:
There are actually two sets of voters—those inside the 1994 Rockdale city limits and those between the boundaries of those city limits and the current school district boundaries.
And both sets have to approve the RHD expansion or it won’t happen.
The key for the district will be persuading those residents in the area proposed to join the district—who don’t currently pay any hospital district taxes—to vote themselves a new tax.
“There are residents of Milam County who do not live within the 1994 hospital district boundary that take advantage of HealthPoint Clinic,” Puccio said. “This expansion will spread the burden of health care in a more equal manner among the citizens receiving the advantage of health care in Rockdale and give more funding to the development of expanded health care within Rockdale.
Passage, by both sets of voters, would substantially reduce the property tax burden on Rockdale city residents.
PROP B—There will actually be two propositions on the May 3 ballot. Proposition A is the expansion and Proposition B, required by law, asks the voters in the expansion area if they will assume debts and taxes of the RHD.
Puccio said the district does not have any debts.”
DISSOLVING—If the May 2 vote fails, the district will consider all its options “including dissolution,” according to Puccio, but that doesn’t mean the HealthPoint Clinic will close.
“The clinic would not have to close,” she said. “It is my understanding that if the district is dissolved the county would take over burden of providing indigent care and would be the ones to have a lease arrangement with HealthPoint.
“All the district’s assets would be turned over to the county,” Puccio said.
Milam County is poised to become a player in health care. On Monday commissioners adopted a resolution declaring health care a countywide issue and are expected to appoint a task force on the subject.
The HealthPoint Clinic continues to operate in Suite B of the former Richards Memorial Hospital, Puccio said the RHD continues to work with CHI St. Joseph’s to bring specialists to Suite A in the future.
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