HOSPITALS

Jackson Health System Seeks Own Tax District
Battling to overcome deepening losses, the board of Jackson Health System wants voters to approve a new taxing district that might add $300 a year in taxes to the average homeowner.

By John Dorschner
September 30, 2009

Minutes after listening to a pollster say only 31 percent of Miami-Dade voters supported the idea of a special hospital taxing district, the governing board of the Jackson Health System voted unanimously Tuesday to ask the county commission to add a voter referendum on such a district to the November 2010 ballot.

If approved, the measure might add about $300 a year to the property tax of the average homeowner, said board member Jorge L. Arrizurieta.

Jackson's leaders have been struggling to find new revenue because of the rising numbers of uninsured and lower funds from the sales and property tax money it already receives. The system faced a $133 million shortfall next year before it balanced its budget two weeks ago by saying it would close nursing homes and primary care centers.

The Tuesday vote came after pollster Sergio Bendixen presented a poll taken in late August that showed 61 percent of 1,000 voters opposed a taxing district, 31 percent were in favor and 8 percent were undecided.

The same poll found considerably stronger support for adding a half-penny sales tax to the half-penny the public health system already receives: 47 percent of voters support an increased sales tax, and 47 percent are opposed.

But John H. Copeland III, chairperson of the Public Health Trust, said a sales tax would need approval by the Florida Legislature before being presented to voters, and that Republican-dominated body has been adamantly opposed to any tax increases.

The survey, which Bendixen said cost the system about $30,000, found that 77 percent of voters have a positive opinion of Jackson and only 9 percent have a negative opinion.

"No politician has that high a rating,'' Bendixen told the board Tuesday. He called Jackson "the most respected institution in the county.'' Not even the Miami Dolphins have such a high rating.

The popularity holds true across all major demographic groups: 79 percent of white Anglos, 80 percent of blacks and 75 percent of Hispanics have a positive opinion of Jackson. That leads all hospitals in the county, with Baptist second at 73 percent, followed by Mercy at 61 percent and Mount Sinai at 57 percent.

The groups split, however, when it comes to a taxing district, with 54 percent of blacks, 35 percent of white Anglos and 25 percent of Hispanics supporting the concept.

Bendixen recommended a $5 million marketing campaign leading up to an election to convince voters. Board member Joaquin del Cueto said that he was concerned about how that bill would be paid and how a taxing district might impact other money that Jackson presently receives.

Board members favored maintaining the present half-penny sales tax and the property tax revenue the system already receives. Under the proposal, a new hospital taxing district could seek up to $2 per every $1,000 of property valuation -- meaning potential revenue of up to $424 million.