Mattawa clinic puts levy proposal on November ballot

MATTAWA — Grant County Hospital District 5, also known as the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic, is asking voters to consider a proposal to change the amount of money collected through the hospital district levy in the Nov. 3 general election. District 5 Commissioner Barb Davis said the “levy lid lift” would raise the amount of money collected through the clinic’s existing maintenance and operations levy. 

If it’s approved, the levy lid lift would help the clinic answer some crucial questions, Davis said. 

“How can we better serve our patients? How do we keep our doors open in today’s changing world?” Davis said. 

If it’s approved, the proposal would raise the levy amount to 65 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. Commissioner Tiffany Coulson said in a candidate forum Aug. 28 that the current levy rate is about 32 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. 

“(The levy lid lift proposal) is actually a restoration of the 2000 levy rate that was approved by voters at that time,” Coulson said. “But it’s eroded over time.”

If the levy lid lift is approved, the owner of property valued at $300,000 would pay $195 per year. The owner of property valued at $500,000 would pay $325 per year. 

Davis said MCMC is open Saturdays, and that’s an example of the challenge facing the clinic at current funding levels.

The Saturday clinic is losing money, she said; most of the people who use it are not regular MCMC patients. But it’s the only medical facility open in Mattawa on Saturday, Davis said, and MCMC officials want to keep it open. The levy lid lift would help offset some of the cost of services like that, she said. 

“We are a (public hospital district) and do rely on some tax base for revenue, but we also rely on patient revenue as well as grants and other funding sources,” Coulson said.  

Davis estimated that about 60 to 70% of the clinic’s patients who have medical insurance use Medicare or Medicaid.  

“There’s only so much you can bill for services,” Davis said. 

Clinic commissioners want to expand services as well, Davis said, and are discussing ways to add vision care, among others. But attracting a provider will require outfitting a vision clinic, she said, an expense that would be borne by the clinic. 

“It’s a really tough deal to be able to provide medical services in this rural environment,” Davis said. “We got to the point where we had to ask the people to approve this levy (lid lift).”