BOS Goes to Sacramento
Hears Mandate For Third Time
How often does Modoc County have to go to Sacramento before it finally gets the message: “Pay back the money that was illegally misappropriated from the treasury as soon as possible.”
That direct mandate was repeated for at least the third time earlier this week when Supervisor Dan Macsay, CAO Rick Rudometkin and Environmental Health Director Warren Farnam met with the State Controller’s Office.
Also attending the joint meeting with state and county officials were Monday Night Group members Alan Hopkins, John Dederick and Mike Tedrick.
At issue is the state’s order that Modoc County must repay $12.5 million to the treasury after an estimated $20 million was illegally misappropriated by the Board of Supervisors -- if not as soon as possible, at least by June 30. The $12.5 million is the balance due after funds were replaced to the county schools account.
The Board of Supervisors’ response to the state has been to seek the sale of revenue bonds that would encumber the county and its taxpayers with a debt estimated at $12.5 million to $15 million payable at $1.5 million per year for 15 years.
The Monday Night Group has tried with only moderate success to get the Board of Supervisors to consider other options, including special legislation that would allow the county to carry a deficit past the end of the fiscal year.
Hopkins of the Monday Night Group told the Modoc Independent News there was no real change in the state’s position on repaying the money to the treasury.
“There was not a lot of change,” Hopkins said. “They have accepted the financial plan sent on April 13. We, the Monday Night Group, didn’t know that, but Rudometkin had been notified. The state is not telling us what the alternatives are if the county cannot fulfill the plan.”
If the State Controller’s Office did not explain this week what it sees as the alternative to paying back the $12.5 million by June 30, its legal counsel made it clear in a March 30 letter to the San Francisco bond consultants hired by the Board of Supervisors that the alternative is bankruptcy.
Asked why the state is being non-committal about its position on Modoc County’s financial crisis, Hopkins said it appears the state does not want to take control of the county’s debt problem.
“Everybody’s is afraid of setting a precedent,” Hopkins explained. “That’s where we are.”
As for the Monday Night Group’s suggestion of pursuing special legislation, Hopkins said state Sen. Dave Cox was consistent in his position that it would be difficult to get such a bill through the legislature, while Assemblyman Jim. Nielsen was apparently open to considering it.
An official report on the meeting with the State Controller’s Office is on the May 25, Tuesday, Board of Supervisors agenda.
-- Ray A. March
Friday, May 21, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Ballot Question - SV Hospital Tax Assessment
Editor's Note: The following statement explaining the tax assessment that will be on the June ballot was provided by the Surprise Valley Hospital District.
Information on the Surprise Valley Health Care District Permanent Tax Assessment
The District Board cannot raise the tax without going back to the voters with a 2/3 approval.
You do not have to be a property owner to vote for the assessment.
Closing the hospital is not an option, as seismic regulations would prevent it from re-opening.
Hospitals are highly regulated by state and federal law. We are required by law to treat every patient who comes to the facility regardless of the patient's ability to pay.
We will use the tax assessment as collateral for applying for a line of credit to assist us with essential operations throughout each year, as many businesses do for cash flow reasons. Unfortunately, at this time, lenders are being extra cautious about loaning money. Because of the ongoing State budget shortages we will experience MediCal payment reimbursement delays this year, yet we will be expected to make payroll, pay insurance and pay bills, along with numerous other expenses while providing health care to anyone who is in need. MediCal payment delay means we will not receive ANY MediCal reimbursement until the budget passes. 100% of our long term care residents are MediCal patients. Our reimbursement is approximately $7,176 per month per patient.
After the assessment is passed, the public will hold the Board of Directors and the administration accountable by attending the public board meetings to obtain information concerning the financials, by requesting copies of the financial reports and asking questions regarding the operation of the hospital and the clinic. Our elected, business conscious, tax paying District Board members are responsible to the voters of the District. Financial information and other specific information is available on our new web site, www.SVhospital.org.
Information on the Surprise Valley Health Care District Permanent Tax Assessment
The District Board cannot raise the tax without going back to the voters with a 2/3 approval.
You do not have to be a property owner to vote for the assessment.
Closing the hospital is not an option, as seismic regulations would prevent it from re-opening.
Hospitals are highly regulated by state and federal law. We are required by law to treat every patient who comes to the facility regardless of the patient's ability to pay.
We will use the tax assessment as collateral for applying for a line of credit to assist us with essential operations throughout each year, as many businesses do for cash flow reasons. Unfortunately, at this time, lenders are being extra cautious about loaning money. Because of the ongoing State budget shortages we will experience MediCal payment reimbursement delays this year, yet we will be expected to make payroll, pay insurance and pay bills, along with numerous other expenses while providing health care to anyone who is in need. MediCal payment delay means we will not receive ANY MediCal reimbursement until the budget passes. 100% of our long term care residents are MediCal patients. Our reimbursement is approximately $7,176 per month per patient.
After the assessment is passed, the public will hold the Board of Directors and the administration accountable by attending the public board meetings to obtain information concerning the financials, by requesting copies of the financial reports and asking questions regarding the operation of the hospital and the clinic. Our elected, business conscious, tax paying District Board members are responsible to the voters of the District. Financial information and other specific information is available on our new web site, www.SVhospital.org.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
MMC Resolution - Cantrall Speaks Out
The Board of Supervisors has voted to put the Modoc Medical Center on notice that it must pay its own way with the passage of a resolution that has virtually no enforcement powers and fails to address the board’s legal authority to draw money from county funds to pay the hospital’s debts -- leaving the threat that the hospital could close.
Summed up, that’s the opinion of Supervisor Patricia Cantrall and County Counsel John Kenny.
By a vote of 4-1 with Cantrall in lone opposition, the board acknowledged what has been publicly known for months: The hospital has “been a significant drain on the county’s general fund…and the county is experiencing significant cash flow and related financial problems.”
In reacting to the hospital’s financial problems, Chair Dan Macsay pushed the board into a policy statement that the board will expect the hospital to “operate on a break-even basis and will not and cannot provide additional funding for Modoc Medical Center.”
Additionally, the resolution says nothing about allowing MMC to retain any profits it may realize.
Asked why she voted against the resolution, Cantrall explained that in her view, passage of the resolution was a message that the board will close the hospital if it cannot make a profit or at least break-even.
“I just could not vote to put the hospital out of business,” she told the Modoc Independent News. “I just couldn’t do it. It’s a bad deal and hard choice. Honestly, we can’t get money from anybody else to keep t open. I don’t know where we will be if we have to shut the hospital down.”
Casting doubt over the resolution’s authority, Kenny stated in a memo to CAO Rick Rudometkin that he felt it had little strength.
“I believe the resolution is intended to be a statement of position,” Kenny wrote. “It actually does not accomplish much. As you know, there is a procedure that the county should go through if it wishes to close or diminish services to Modoc Medical Center. Those procedures may be academic if the county does not have the money to pay supplies, personnel and other expenses necessary to run a hospital.”
Cantrall, when asked about the board’s legal right to draw money from the treasury to pay the hospital’s debts referred indirectly to the board’s misappropriation of an estimated $20 million -- an act that put the county in its current financial crisis.
“If anybody had mentioned it was for school funds I would not have gone along with it,” Cantrall said. “Why not have the decency to tell the board what was going on?”
As for drawing on hospital reserves, if they accrued, Cantrall was adamantly against it.
“Anybody’s a jackass if they even think of taking money from the hospital,” she said.
That said, the board recently misappropriated an estimated $1.4 million in Medicare overpayments to MMC that must be repaid. It’s not clear where that money went, but MMC is now making payments back to Medicare to replace the overage.
-- Ray A. March
Summed up, that’s the opinion of Supervisor Patricia Cantrall and County Counsel John Kenny.
By a vote of 4-1 with Cantrall in lone opposition, the board acknowledged what has been publicly known for months: The hospital has “been a significant drain on the county’s general fund…and the county is experiencing significant cash flow and related financial problems.”
In reacting to the hospital’s financial problems, Chair Dan Macsay pushed the board into a policy statement that the board will expect the hospital to “operate on a break-even basis and will not and cannot provide additional funding for Modoc Medical Center.”
Additionally, the resolution says nothing about allowing MMC to retain any profits it may realize.
Asked why she voted against the resolution, Cantrall explained that in her view, passage of the resolution was a message that the board will close the hospital if it cannot make a profit or at least break-even.
“I just could not vote to put the hospital out of business,” she told the Modoc Independent News. “I just couldn’t do it. It’s a bad deal and hard choice. Honestly, we can’t get money from anybody else to keep t open. I don’t know where we will be if we have to shut the hospital down.”
Casting doubt over the resolution’s authority, Kenny stated in a memo to CAO Rick Rudometkin that he felt it had little strength.
“I believe the resolution is intended to be a statement of position,” Kenny wrote. “It actually does not accomplish much. As you know, there is a procedure that the county should go through if it wishes to close or diminish services to Modoc Medical Center. Those procedures may be academic if the county does not have the money to pay supplies, personnel and other expenses necessary to run a hospital.”
Cantrall, when asked about the board’s legal right to draw money from the treasury to pay the hospital’s debts referred indirectly to the board’s misappropriation of an estimated $20 million -- an act that put the county in its current financial crisis.
“If anybody had mentioned it was for school funds I would not have gone along with it,” Cantrall said. “Why not have the decency to tell the board what was going on?”
As for drawing on hospital reserves, if they accrued, Cantrall was adamantly against it.
“Anybody’s a jackass if they even think of taking money from the hospital,” she said.
That said, the board recently misappropriated an estimated $1.4 million in Medicare overpayments to MMC that must be repaid. It’s not clear where that money went, but MMC is now making payments back to Medicare to replace the overage.
-- Ray A. March
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