By Jacob Stock
The Cuero Record
Cuero Regional Hospital (CRH) Board of Directors recently gathered and held a special called meeting on Friday, August 5. Present for the meeting was Board Chairman Dr. John Frels, Vice Chairman Faye Sheppard, Secretary Charles Papacek, Directors Richard Wheeler, and Cindy Sheppard. The meeting was called to order at precisely 12:30 p.m. and had adjourned by 12:47 p.m.
Up for discussion first, reviewing and proposing the 2022 ad valorem property tax rate. The Board of Directors would propose a property tax rate of $0.21400 cents per $100 of taxable property value for the 2022-2023 year. Roughly a 26% decrease from the current rate of $0.28856.
If the proposed rate is adopted at the August 25 regular meeting, a person owning a home of $100,000 in value in the hospital’s district will pay $214 in property taxes.
A spreadsheet that showed where property values were estimated and appraised in 2022 was examined by the board. The property tax rate of .28856 generated 4.9 million in revenue. This year, net property values have increased by over 790 million in the district. CRH’s certified taxable value is $2,517,190,880.
A couple of reasons factored into proposing the .21400 property tax rate. One, CRH has been battling lower admissions compared to in the past.
“Our admissions have been really light, they are still lower than they have been in the past. I don’t think we will even hit 60 this month again, so we are staying in the 50s. In the past, we were over 70 in admissions,” explained Alexander.
On top of that, reimbursement has challenges on the horizon. It is estimated that CRH’s medicare will have a 6% sequestration rate by January of next year.
“The additional dollars can help make sure that we are covered from our operations perspective,” continued Alexander.
A motion to support the .21400 tax rate proposal was made by Faye Sheppard and seconded by Charles Papacek, the board unanimously voted in favor of the proposed rate.
“The hospital is truly an economic engine in this community,” said Papacek. “This is the largest employer in the community and we need to stay as strong as we can,” added Faye Sheppard on the proposed rate and significant challenges that lie ahead.
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