Samaritan submits revised construction budget to USDA
A model of the proposed new Samaritan Hospital on display at a recent community meeting. Hospital board members voted to submit a revised budget for the project to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has approved funding for a portion of the project.
CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
MOSES LAKE — Substantial increases in projected construction costs prompted Samaritan Healthcare officials to submit a revised budget to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the proposed new Samaritan Hospital.
Samaritan board members voted 5-0 to approve the resolution revising the project budget for the USDA. Samaritan CEO Theresa Sullivan said the updated budget proposal was requested by USDA officials.
“How does this help them, since they’re not responsible for anything more than they’ve agreed to loan us?” asked board member Alan White.
“If we look to them for any additional funding,” Sullivan said. “We’ve been talking to them about the fact the cost of the project has risen, so this is the formal notification to them. They asked us to put it into this format.”
Hospital district voters will be asked to approve or reject a construction bond proposal for up to $130 million in a special election April 27.
If the bond is approved, hospital district property owners would pay an estimated $1.10 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The owner of property worth $200,000 would pay $220 per year, and the owner of property worth $300,000 would pay $330 per year.
The project was approved by board members in 2018. Design was completed by the end of 2019, and the project was almost ready to be advertised for construction bids when the COVID-19 pandemic halted progress.
Samaritan board chair Katherine Christian said in an earlier interview that, prior to the pandemic, Samaritan officials anticipated the project could be completed without the need for a construction bond.
“We believed that we could do (the project) out of hospital funds. Which if we could, definitely that would be our preference,” Christian said.
However, some hospital and clinic services were suspended at various times during the pandemic, which cut into Samaritan’s revenue, while staffing shortages and inflation increased expenses. The cost of construction also increased substantially.
Joe Kunkel, a consultant working with the hospital on the project, gave an estimate in January of about $225 million for the total project cost, if the bond is approved and construction starts later in 2023.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.