Hospital seeks levy increase

Published 1:14 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

SNOQUALMIE – Give Jeff Lyle 7 cents, and he’ll put up blue signs emblazoned with a large, white “H.”

King County Public Hospital District 4 will ask local voters Nov. 5 to approve a 7-cent levy increase from 43 cents to 50 cents so Snoqualmie Valley Hospital can open a 24-hour urgent-care clinic next year.

Lyle, superintendent of Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, said access to health care outside business hours and public support for the idea were the top factors in the hospital district’s Board of Commissioners’ decision to place the levy increase on the general-election ballot.

“After 8 o’clock at night, there’s no health care between Bellevue and Ellensburg,” Lyle said.

The levy increase would be the first for the hospital district since it reopened 19 months ago.

If approved, the property-tax levy would rise from 43 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to 50 cents, raising between $190,000 to $250,000, depending on how much the Valley’s assessed valuation increases.

Lyle said it would cost about $1 million a year to operate and staff a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week urgent-care clinic. The hospital expects it to generate about $750,000 in revenues, with the difference made up by the proposed property-tax increase.

“We looked at this as the quickest way to provide the service without losing money from day one,” he said.

It would build on a small but growing list of services provided by Snoqualmie Valley Hospital since reopening. Jeanne’s Place, an eight-bed senior behavioral health facility, has made a name for itself with its one-on-one care, Lyle said. The hospital also has six inpatient beds and does outpatient laboratory work.

For the complete story, pick up a copy of this weeks Valley Record