Megan Navarro
HAYS COUNTY — Extensive deliberation led the Hays County Commissioners Court to acknowledge a voter petition for the possible creation of a hospital district at its Tuesday, Aug. 25, meeting.
The proposal for a hospital district was initially presented to court by Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra’s office June 9, discussing potential partnerships, financial benefits and expanded medical care access. While it was solely a presentation item, some commissioners were still hesitant that there was not enough information.
Then, Becerra called for a special meeting to take place Monday, Aug. 18, to deliberate having an election for the hospital district. This came after the judge and healthcare supporters “feverishly” worked to obtain the required number of signatures and petitions to add the initiative to the ballot, according to a press release from Becerra’s office.
The special called meeting, however, could not move forward, due to a lack of quorum, with commissioners Michelle Cohen, Debbie Ingalsbe and Walt Smith not being in attendance, as previously reported by the Hays Free Press/News-Dispatch.
Now, several items related to the possible hospital district, including the acknowledgement of a presentation of a voter petition, order for a countywide special election in May 2027 and intent to establish a “target operating tax rate,” were brought forward again for the commissioners’ consideration.
The petition was met with questions from the commissioners regarding the number and validity of the signatures to ensure that they meet the requirements to move forward.
In response to Smith’s question on the review process, elections administrator Jennifer Doinoff initially explained that she and the tax assessor reviewed several documents to verify that the signers were on the voter registration and property tax lists. Once they were sent to the Civil Division, it was found that some had missing information, such as date of birth.
“At the end of the day, were this to pass with our citizens … by statute the county would appoint or the county commissioners court would appoint the board,” Smith said. “However, the county commissioners court would have the authority or actually be designated as the entity who would set the tax rate on it. Before we move forward into a process to start down that road, I just want to make sure that these are valid signatures.”
Following hours of review, county staff came back before the court to verify that more than 100 signatures on the petition were valid.
Despite this, commissioners were still left with questions and hesitation, including that they have not been privy to the “year-long conversation,” said Ingalsbe.
“I wish that we would have had some of those conversations here in court, bringing in those experts here to the courtroom, so that we could also hear the message [and] hear the options. The assessment, I think, would have given us an opportunity to decide which is the better option to go with,” Ingalsbe said “I think we could have done better.”
Becerra explained that the court has received the verified signatures, so now, it’s about conversation with the public to make an educated decision.
Cohen, who also serves on the Public Health Authority Board, also felt that the court was not being fully informed on its options and feared that individuals who signed the petition did so without all of the facts. She also noted that during the June presentation, the proposal was described as a health district, but now it is a hospital district.
“So, I don't feel good about the petition … It seems like because we have the petition now as a court, we have to vote for this. With all this missing information, we have to vote for it and I feel that the petitioners that signed this were misinformed and we did this backwards. This is not how it's supposed to go. We need to evaluate, figure out what's the best options for us [and] listen to the experts that have not been brought in,” she stressed. “Who are the stakeholders? When did these meetings happen? What was discussed? How come we were just now getting brought into this conversation? And to me, that's very unacceptable.”
Smith echoed that there has not been a single “public process” regarding this, other than the one presentation, which reviewed multiple options to move forward with.
Commissioner Morgan Hammer highlighted that the Hays County Indigent Health Care Program — designed to provide medical and prescription drug coverage for eligible, low-income residents who do not qualify for other state or federal health care programs — caps at $30,000 per person. Under a hospital district, Hays County would assume full responsibility for furnishing medical and hospital care for indigent and “needy” people who reside in the district.
“That is a liability that I don't think any taxpayer at this current state wants. Full responsibility for furnishing medical and hospital care,” Hammer said. “No offense, but we can’t run a shelter and [yet], we are going to take care of people? … We're going to have to create a hospital. We don't know how to create a hospital. Do you know how many employees are in the hospital system in Hays County — 114,000. We have no business getting into a hospital district without doing all of the homework around it.”
Additionally, after the signatures were verified and pursuant to Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 281, the court now has a “ministerial duty,” according to Hays County assistant criminal district attorney Chase Young, to call for the special election for the creation of a hospital district.
Ultimately, the court voted 4-1, with Smith dissenting, to acknowledge the voter petition.
“I have serious concerns over the validity of this and I want the court to have an option to come back and look at this under statute,” Smith said. “I’m not going to support this.”
Although the court has a “duty” to call a special election, it is not immediately required, so the commissioners unanimously voted to table the item until the rest of the May election orders are made.
The court also unanimously tabled a resolution that would formalize the intent to establish “a target operating tax rate for the proposed Hays County Hospital District of $0.01 to $0.02 per $100 of taxable valuation, substantially below the statutory maximum of $0.75 per $100 valuation.”
To listen to the full discussion, visit www.hayscountytx.gov/189/Court-Meetings-Livestream.
