Wednesday, October 20, 1999
Tax levy foes howling at Drake surplus
Hospital says cushion needed
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Opening an eye. Straightening a finger. Taking a step. Dialing a telephone. Routine movements that take seconds have become monumental tasks for Eric Morris. Each movement is a miracle. Each miracle has taken a week. Each week costs a fortune.
Mr. Morris, an 18-year-old senior and football player at Colerain High School, suffered severe brain trauma when a car wreck knocked him into a coma Sept. 10.
For the past five weeks, Mr. Morris has been rehabilitating at the Drake Center in Hartwell, a nonprofit hospital that uses tax money to pay for catastrophic, long-term care, regardless of the patient's ability to pay.
A five-year renewal of the special tax levy that helps pay for that care will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot as Issue 12. The tax also pays for a handful of county health programs. If approved, it would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $31 per year.
The amount of the levy this time around is less than the last renewal, because two county programs formerly funded by it are being paid for by other means. That had the effect of reducing the levy
from 1.76 to 1.59 mills. A mill is equal to $1 in tax for each $1,000 of assessed property value.
“I come here every day and there is always some small thing he does that he couldn't do the day before,” said Eric's grandfather, Fred Putnick of Colerain Township. “But it takes a lot of time. It's like he's a baby again, and has to learn everything all over.”
Although insurance has covered Mr. Morris' treatment so far, physical and occupational therapy as an outpatient could go on for more than a year.
After insurance expires, the hospital helps patients sign up for Medicaid. When that's gone, the levy money kicks in to cover costs for county residents.
So it goes every year for scores of people suffering from strokes, spinal cord injuries, amputations and dozens of other afflictions.
“The levy allows Drake to provide such a valuable service,” said Dr. Steven C. Lynn, vice president of hospital affairs. “And it's not like this is for people we don't know. The patients at Drake are our friends and neighbors.”
But Drake's need for the tax money has become an issue.
Tom Brinkman Jr., director of the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) that is active in school and city council tax issues, recently debated Dr. Lynn and Reberta J. Bradford, executive director of the hospital.
Mr. Brinkman says the hospital is sitting on a pile of money that should be used to provide services before new tax dollars are collected. He said if the levy fails, the hospital would function just fine on the reserve and could come back to voters when that's gone.
Drake officials reported $29 million in reserves during a review by the Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee, and projected that balance to grow to $48 million at the end of the next five-year cycle.
Dr. Lynn said that money is needed to attract quality doctors, insure against malpractice and expand the hospital. No levy money is to be used in any capital projects.
“We should be paying for these (hospital) services, but we already have,” Mr. Brinkman said. “We've paid up two years in advance. In my mind, zero is the amount of reserve they should have. They're taking our tax money and building an endowment for themselves.”
About 25 percent of Drake's $44 million annual budget comes from the tax. Hospital officials say the public money provides county residents with a safety net against a long-term health problem that could wipe them out financially.
Seventy-five percent of the $18 million tax will go to Drake each year. The rest will go to provide health and mental health programs to jail inmates or people referred by the county's drug court.
Drake officials say there will be a $13.5 million hole in the safety net every year if the levy is voted down — an issue they have never had to deal with in the 10-year history of the levy.
“I don't want to even think about what would happen if the levy fails,” Ms. Bradford said. “This is such a critical issue for the people of this county.”
The levy is meant to be a subsidy for the hospital's operating revenues. When revenues exceed the hospital's expenses by 2 percent or more, Drake returns half that amount to the county.
That means the levy has not been used, in any large degree, to build the hospital's surplus. A small amount of levy money, however, could end up in the hospital's reserves at year's end, hospital spokeswoman Lyn Pierce said.
“The levy only applies to our operating funds,” Ms. Pierce said. “It all goes in and there is no delineation” between levy funds and other operating revenues.
Dr. Lynn said the hospital needs to keep its reserve to ensure a healthy financial future. Just like the patients inside, the hospital never knows when a catastrophe might cause huge financial losses.
But those arguments seem small to Eric Morris and his family. Mr. Morris remembered the phone number of his grandmother and dialed the telephone by himself last week. It was another first — another miracle — after his accident.
Eric Morris Sr. said he's just thankful for Drake, because there is no other facility in the region to help people like his son.
“We in Hamilton County are very lucky,” the senior Mr. Morris said. “If we didn't have it, I don't know what some people would do.”
ISSUE 12 AT A GLANCE
The Health and Hospitalization Levy will be on the ballot as Issue 12 for all Hamilton County voters Nov. 2. The five-year tax would generate about $18 million a year.
Here's how the money would be spent:
• Drake Center would get $13.7 million in the first year of the levy, with that amount rising gradually to $14.7 million in 2004. The hospital treats catastrophically injured county residents, regardless of their ability to pay.
• Hamilton County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board would receive $1.5 million annually. The money would be used to give counseling, drug rehabilitation and family services for people referred through the county's drug court.
• Municipal Court programs would get $2.6 million a year. Programs include batterer's intervention, extended treatment for chemical dependency and an extended treatment center for multiple-DUI offenders.
• Sheriff's programs would get $525,000 a year to provide medical care and counseling for people incarcerated in the county jail system.
EDITORIAL: Sex-ed: Who's in control?
Excerpts from CDC sex education
State says it won't force plan on local schools
What you can do
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Auditor cries foul on stadium tax use
City idea: State park on the river
Shirey urges moratorium on spending
Tax levy foes howling at Drake surplus
Tobacco payment spending unsettled
Drivers ease off pedal on I-275
Inmates do good as they do time
Teen moms settle suit over honor society ban
2nd man charged in drive-by
Children's agency responds to criticism
Elsmere ready to fight new jail
Playhouse version of 'Glass Menagerie' reflects the new
Best Halloween treats aren't tricky
GET TO IT
If patients define goals, doctor says, they cultivate good habits
Sure it's sinuses?
'Team Shelley' back for strides against cancer
Local radio giveaways aren't always local
Boy, 5, hospitalized; legal guardian charged
Finneytown superintendent to retire
Gathering in Butler County remembers victims of crime
Lakota ponders merits of school for freshmen
Low-rate loans planned for Price Hill homes
Marriott drops plans for assisted-living complex
Mayors, Olympians have message for kids: Get fit
Middletown builders blast fees
Milford has growing pains
Mining bid wins 1 vote in Boone Co.
Mother, daughter plead guilty in theft
Ohio takes voucher case to U.S. Supreme Court justice
Rep. Watts to speak at Clermont Co. fund-raiser
Scientist fair puts emphasis on people
Teacher accused of striking 8-year-old
Teen cleans up with $1,000 prize
tires turned in
United Way two-thirds to its goal
