Kim Skinner, Elephant Butte mayor pro tem and chairperson of the hospital JPC, said, in an interview Monday, Jan. 27, the unwieldiness of the 12-member JPC and nine-member Governing Board has given the hospital a “notorious reputation for infighting” that has hurt its financial stability.
The hospital received a $39-million State loan to build the new wing, which it successfully renegotiated to $30 million in 2018, Skinner said. But during the negotiations, the size of the two boards was noted to be a problem by the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, N.M. Sen. John Arthur Smith and N.M. Rep. Rebecca Dow. They are all in favor of creating a special hospital district as a more financially stable governing structure.
Skinner said it was discovered the hospital loan was “short,” and Smith and Dow came to the rescue, giving all the State grant money they were allotted in 2018 to the hospital. Smith gave $5 million and Dow gave $500,000, which does not have to be paid back, Skinner said.
A special hospital district would be governed by a five-person board of trustees, elected by the people, Skinner said. Each of the trustees would live in a geographic district corresponding to the Sierra County Soil and Water Conservation District’s districts.
The resolution states candidate-trustees would be, “citizens who have some interest in hospital governance and who are generally less politically motivated than members of the local governing bodies, thereby ensuring actions are taken that advance the mission and purpose of the Hospital, rather than individual governing bodies.”
Skinner said the JPC had discussed trustees being elected “at-large,” that is, every Sierra County elector casts five votes, one for each district trustee. However, she agreed at-large voting allows a faction to place a trustee in every position on the board. She will suggest voting be changed to district voting, in which only those living within a district may vote for one district trustee.
Each of the governmental entities, the City of Truth or Consequences, the City of Elephant Butte, the Village of Williamsburg and Sierra County, supports the hospital with a portion of their Gross Receipts Tax, Skinner said, which would not change or go up without putting it to vote.
“The pledged level will remain the same,” Skinner said. “You have to put it on the ballot to raise GRT taxes.”
Normally hospital districts are formed from the grass-roots up, by putting the question to the affected voters. State law describes the process. However, a hospital district can be formed by legislative action, said Skinner, and has been done so one time.
Nor-Lea Hospital District in Lovington was formed by a legislative act in 1980. It was Lea County General Hospital, owned by the county, but closed in 1972, according to the hospital’s website. Led by the Chamber of Commerce and area fund-raising efforts, requests that the legislature create a hospital district were granted.