Krings said 20 percent of the acute-care hospital's income comes from the levy and is mixed with income from private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare.

Questions arose Friday about whether it was appropriate - or even legal - for Drake to pay off a $204,000 campaign loan in 1999 and guarantee a $500,000 campaign loan this year.

Ohio law forbids spending levy money for any purpose other than that approved by voters.

Drake leaders say they're properly using their $35 million reserve fund.

"That money is Drake's money," Drake attorney Earle Jay Maiman said Tuesday. "The taxpayers - if they have any money coming back to them, they've already got it."

Commissioner Phil Heimlich wants a prosecutor's opinion.

"The idea that you can take tax money, mix it in a bowl like a Betty Crocker mix and then what comes out is money for Drake to do with as they see fit is ludicrous."

Drake is the main part of an $80 million tax issue known as Issue 43. Passage would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $25 a year, up from $24 a year.

E-mail candrews@enquirer .com