What is a hospital district?
The Texas Legislature allows local communities to create hospital districts to keep healthcare services available in the community and provide a stable source of funding.
Hospital districts are local governmental entities with the authority to collect property taxes, issue bonds, and receive federal funds to finance operations. Hospital districts are governed by their own board of elected directors.
Hospital districts can be created only with local voter approval.
How many hospital districts are in Texas?
There are more than 140 voter-approved hospital districts in Texas.
Why is the request to create the Calhoun County Hospital District on the ballot?
A voter-led petition to call for an election to create the hospital district was submitted to the County Judge in late January.
More than 3 percent of registered Calhoun County voters signed the petition.
When is the election?
The election will be held May 3.
How much tax will the Calhoun County Hospital District collect?
Voters are asked to approve a property tax of no more than 40 cents per $100 dollars valuation of taxable property. This amount is well below what state law allows a hospital district to assess (75 cents on each $100 dollars of valuation).
If voters approve the creation of the district, the recommendation to the new hospital district board will be an initial tax rate of 10 cents per $100 dollars of valuation, after any exemptions such as Homeowner and Over 65.
This means that if your property is assessed a value of $100,000 by the Calhoun County Appraisal District, your annual tax payment for the hospital district would be $100.
You can calculate the exact tax for your property value here.
Won’t the hospital district board increase the tax rate to the maximum amount after the first year?
No. State law prohibits the tax rate from increasing by more than 8 percent each year so even if the board did approve an annual tax rate increase, it would take 18 years to reach the voter-approved maximum tax rate of 40 cents.
Doesn’t the County already support the hospital?
Memorial Medical Center receives no operating funds from the County.
Memorial Medical Center applies to the County to cover the costs of indigent care, which the County is required to provide. In 2024, just $3,883 of $7,418 in indigent care costs were covered.
More significant to the hospital’s bottom line is the charity care program, authorized by the County and overseen by the Board of Managers, to provide medical care to uninsured and low-income individuals. The County provides no funds for this program. The hospital provided more $7.8 million in unfunded, uncompensated care last year.
The hospital is required by state and federal law (EMTALA) to provide emergency care to anyone who seeks it, regardless of their ability to pay for it.
What will happen to Memorial Medical Center if the hospital district is approved?
Memorial Medical Center will continue to be Calhoun County’s hospital.
Inpatient and outpatient services will continue to be provided at the hospital and clinics.
The voter-approved funding will support the hospital in:
- providing care to uninsured patients
- recruiting more physicians
- enhancing, replacing, and upgrading equipment and facilities
- expanding services
Who will be in charge of the Calhoun County Hospital District?
Hospital districts are governed by their own elected boards. If voters approve the Calhoun County Hospital District, seven board members initially will be appointed by the Calhoun County commissioners court. These board members are volunteers and do not receive payment or compensation for their service. After their initial term ends, these members will then need to run for election, and other community members may run as well.
