Support for CCMH

Editor:

There are 19 public Critical Access Hospitals in the state of Missouri. We are fortunate enough to have one in El Dorado Springs. Of these, only two are allowed by statute to receive funding by sales tax. The remaining 17 can only be funded by property tax which includes ours.

The average revenue generated for these hospitals are nearly $700,000 and this is only for the hospital tax. The funding for their County Health Departments are generated by their own tax levy or supported by the county general revenue fund and average nearly $500,000.

To the best of my knowledge, Cedar County Memorial Hospital is one of only two Critical Access Hospitals that also manages the County Health Department through its own funds and has done so on less than $270,000 in tax revenue per year. They should be congratulated for that accomplishment.

For those counties with both levies, the average tax collected is nearly $1,200,000. Barton County’s combined levy is 0.5824 and in St. Clair County its 0.6945. It would appear to me the request by CCMH for our support of an increase to 0.6112 is not only inline with our neighbors but also reasonable and long overdue. I hope you will join me when I vote yes in April.

All the numbers in this editorial are a matter of record in the State Auditors Office.

Marlon Collins

Cedar County

Presiding Commissioner