With only a four-day window left to return ballots for Hazel
Hawkins Hospital’s property bond Measure L, 30 percent of residents
have cast their vote on an expansion bond that would tax residents
nearly $25 per $100,000 of assessed property value in the first
year if the measure passes.
Hollister – With only a four-day window left to return ballots for Hazel Hawkins Hospital’s property bond Measure L, 30 percent of residents have cast their vote on an expansion bond that would tax residents nearly $25 per $100,000 of assessed property value in the first year if the measure passes.
Of the 25,202 ballots mailed to registered county residents, only 8,191 ballots have been returned so far, according to the San Benito County Elections Office.
Fernando Gonzalez, the head of the
committee stumping for Measure L for the past several months, believes the inaugural mail-in ballot in the county has some people confused about the election. People who regularly utilize the absentee voter process know exactly what the ballots look like, but people who normally go to the polls may think it’s an advertisement or junk mail, he said.
But more important, Gonzalez believes, is the fact that the low voter turnout could adversely affect the bond that would raise $31 million for a hospital expansion over 30 years.
“A higher voter turnout gives it a better chance for it passing. This is a two-thirds majority vote, and that makes a big difference,” Gonzalez said. “Because of all the calls we made and the response we got from the community, we were in the 75 percent support range. We felt very confident, but with the low voter turnout that changes the equation a little bit.”
Gonzalez said Measure L committee members will be calling residents up until Tuesday evening, Election Day, reminding them to deliver their ballots to the Elections Office.
While approximately 1,800 ballots were undeliverable because people moved and didn’t re-register, residents can still pick up another ballot at the Elections Office before Tuesday, said Registrar John Hodges.
But anyone who hasn’t mailed in their ballot by today should hand-deliver their own ballot to the Elections Office to be sure it is received, Hodges said. If a ballot isn’t received by 8pm on May 3, it will not be counted.
“There’s a pretty good chance ballots will come back by Tuesday at 8 o’clock but I wouldn’t bet on it (if mailed on Friday),” Hodges said. “If it was me, I’d bring them down myself.”
If at least two-thirds of voters approve the bond, the funding will help finance additional hospital staff, advanced medical technology and a new emergency room that would service about three times the number of patients the current one does, according to Hazel Hawkins CEO Ken Underwood. If the bond passes, the hospital hopes to open the doors on a new emergency room by 2007.
While residents will pay an average of $14.95 per $100,000 of assessed property value over the 30-year lifetime of the bond, they will shell out more than that in the first year, Underwood said.
Underwood said the hospital’s bond consultants estimated that in the first year of the bond residents can expect approximately $24.36 per $100,000 of assessed value added to their property tax bill. But because the bond rate per $100,000 will decrease as assessed value of property in the county increases, officials estimate it will average out to about $14.95 over the 30 years, he said.
“We had a bond measure in 1978 that expired in 2003, and when it expired the average rate per $100,000 was about 10 cents,” Underwood said. “It may have started out at $8, but because assessed value has been rising at about 10 percent a year, by the time it expired it was about 10 cents.”
County resident and owner of M&M Farms, Romaldo Martin, who will have to pay a tax on both his residential and commercial properties, said he doesn’t have a problem paying taxes on both because in the end, it’s worth a little extra.
“I never did think about how I’d get double taxed, but it’s still not a big issue as far as I’m concerned. I still would have voted for it. How else are you going to do it (pay for an expansion)?” Martin said. “But maybe I’m just luckier than most people when it comes to paying my taxes.”
Martin donated a substantial amount of money to the Mabie Northside Skilled Nursing Facility because the home was named after his former partner, William Mabie.
Whether voters are feeling as lucky as Martin when it comes to their own property taxes is yet to be seen when the vote tally comes back Tuesday night.
But until then, although Hazel Hawkins and the Measure L committee have been promoting the bond for months, officials are still a little hazy about the specific details.
Both Underwood and San Benito County Assessor Tom Slavich were uncertain Thursday if the bond language would tax unsecured property an average of $14.95 per $100,000 of assessed property to fund a $31 million hospital expansion, when asked by the Free Lance. However, a hospital consultant said the bond only taxes secured property in San Benito County – such as land with a home built on it.
“It’s only actual physical property. But if there’s some large machinery that’s part of the property that adds value to it, it could also get taxed,” said hospital consultant David Basmajian.
Secured property is anything with land attached to it that a resident owns, which also includes a business and all the equipment, such as a tractor, if the merchant owns the land and building, Slavich said. Unsecured property, which includes boats, airplanes or business equipment, is anything where the owner does not own the land, he said. A county resident who owns both residential property and commercial property will be taxed on both parcels if the bond passes.
The issue of secured versus unsecured property arose when Hollister resident Ruth Erickson went fishing for some answers to questions she had before she voted. After talking to the hospital, the Measure L committee and the Assessor’s Office, she still felt uneasy about the issue of unsecured property, she said. Although an employee at the Assessor’s Office told her the tax would include unsecured property, Basmajian adamantly refuted any claim that the bond could tax a residents’ boat or recreational vehicle.
“Everyone’s confused and there shouldn’t be any confusion because we’re getting up to a vote,” Erickson said. “Are people suddenly going to have a big shock when things are going to be taxed and they didn’t know? That’s a major problem.”
Although officials are clear on how much residents will pay in the first year if the bond passes, both Underwood and Slavich were unsure of the bond’s specifics.
“I have no idea. I don’t know what constitutes assessed property,” Underwood said. “I’d say I’d have to ask the Assessor’s Office.”
But Slavich had a similar statement directed at the hospital.
“I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t think anyone knows right now. It’s the people who wrote it – they must have a plan,” Slavich said. “They’re trying to bounce it back to me, but they’re the authors.”
To pick up or drop off a ballot, visit the San Benito County Elections Office, located at 440 5th St., 2nd Floor Room 206 in Hollister.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
