Samaritan Healthcare construction bond goes to voters

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare voters will be asked to approve or reject a $130 million construction bond request in a special election April 25. Ballots were mailed to voters late last week, according to officials at the Grant County Auditor’s Office.

If the bond is approved, property owners would pay $1.10 per $1,000 of assessed property value. If it’s approved, the owner of land assessed at 250,000 would pay $275 per year, and the owners of property assessed at $300,000 would pay $330 per year.

The bond has a 30-year payback provision.

Samaritan Hospital commissioners voted to approve the construction of a new hospital in October 2018. Chief Executive Officer Theresa Sullivan said that originally district officials and commissioners thought a bond wouldn’t be required to help pay for the project.

“Before we got too far down the line we had done feasibility studies, looked at our finances, all those kinds of things, and we could afford the project without asking the voters for a bond. So we started down that path, (and) in 2020 our plans were nearly complete. In February, March of 2020.”

Sullivan said the hospital district has grown, and the results of studies that started in 2016 indicated it would be very difficult to remodel and expand the current hospital, 801 E. Wheeler Ave., to meet the district’s changing needs.

She cited the emergency room as an example.

“Last year, we saw over 24,000 patients through our emergency department. The last time that emergency department was expanded, as far as the number of emergency-level beds, was 1975, when they went from seven beds to nine beds,” she said.

A remodel in 2016 added three rooms, called “flex care.”

“Flex care rooms are not the same as an emergency department-level room,” Sullivan said. “They would be more like a room in an urgent care (facility), where you’re treating less severe kinds of things coming into the emergency department.”

Sullivan said that as part of the initial studies, hospital district officials considered the option of expanding on the existing 11-acre site.

“The conclusion was that any option to remodel at that site, or build new, was over $100 million,” she said. “And that was back at 2017 prices.”

Remodeling or rebuilding on the 11 acres would still leave the hospital short of space to expand its facilities and services, she said.

“What’s going to happen is that this community continues to grow – and is already growing – we would be out of space immediately, and we would’ve invested $100 million and we’d still have to start over.”

Samaritan officials purchased 55 acres at the intersection of Yonezawa Boulevard and Clover Drive, and have a design mostly completed. The eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 shut down the project, Sullivan said.

Samaritan officials received $136 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, $96 million of which is a loan at 2.25% interest. However, hospital officials must have a certificate of occupancy within five years of the funding approval to qualify to use it, Sullivan said. That means the building must be approved for occupancy by September 2026.

However, between the time the project was shut down in March 2020 and its revival in late 2021, the hospital’s profitability picture changed, she said. Revenue decreased when Samaritan had to suspend some of its services, while expenses were increasing. That was partly due to inflation and, said Chief Administrative Officer Alex Town, partly because Samaritan had to hire temporary workers due to staff shortages.

“Our services actually grew,” Town said. “But at that time we had a lot of staff that decided to look at life much differently and left permanent (jobs). They became (temporary workers), they changed industries; they retired. So we still needed to serve the patients but we didn’t have the labor force to support the services. So we had to backfill and bring in staff to help.”

Inflation also contributed to steep increases in the estimated cost of construction.

Town said the original total project cost estimate was about $156 million.

“That is probably the biggest part of the problem, is that construction costs went up significantly,” Sullivan said. “With this delay we’ve had to project (the cost estimate) out. We’re projecting it out to say we start this fall. So that is roughly $230 million that we’re looking at in total project and finance cost.”

Ballots are due by 8 p.m. on April 25; they can be dropped off at the ballot box behind Moses Lake City Hall, 401 S. Balsam St., at the ballot box in the parking lot at the Grant County Courthouse, 35 C St. NW in Ephrata, or at the Grant County Auditor’s Office inside the courthouse. Mailed ballots must be postmarked on or before April 25.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.

Samaritan Hospital construction bond request

$130 million construction bond proposal

Assessment would be an estimated $1.10 per $1,000 of assessed property value

30-year payback period

If approved, money goes to construction of a new Samaritan Hospital

Ballot dropoff locations

Moses Lake City Hall, 401 S. Balsam St. The ballot drop box is located behind the city hall, the first drop box in the drive-thru lane.

Grant County Courthouse, 35 C St. NW, Ephrata. The ballot drop box is in parking lot A.

Grant County Auditor’s Office, inside the Grant County Courthouse, 35 C St. NW, Ephrata.

Ballots that are mailed must be postmarked on or before Election Day, April 25.