Half-cent tax hike on ballot in March
Supervisors OK proposed levy on sales to raise $90 million a year for health care
By Rebecca Vesely, STAFF WRITER, Oakland Tribune
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 - 3:05:20 AM PST

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors decided to place a half-cent sales tax on the March 2004 ballot to fund health care services for the poor and uninsured.

The tax -- if approved by two-thirds of voters in the mid-term election -- would raise an estimated $90 million a year, with 75 percent of those funds going to the cash-strapped county medical center, which includes Oakland's Highland Hospital.

The measure would put Alameda County ahead of San Francisco as the county with the highest sales tax in the state, at 8.75 percent.

"This is a crisis," said Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who represents the Tri-Valley and most of Fremont and was considered a wild card in the vote because most county-run health facilities are in Oakland, far from his constituents.

"As in any other situation of hemorrhaging, it will spill out into other areas," Haggerty said, explaining his vote for the tax. "Law enforcement, transportation -- these are needed for a healthy community and those departments are at risk as long as we have the medical center in such disarray."

Called the Essential Health Care Services Tax, the measure would provide "additional support for emergency medical, hospital inpatient, outpa- tient, public health, mental health and substance abuse services to indigent, low-income and uninsured adults, children, families, seniors and other residents of Alameda County."

Each year, the governing board of the Alameda County Medical Center -- comprising Highland and Fairmont hospitals, John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro and three outpatient clinics in Oakland, Newark and Hayward -- would decide how to spend 75 percent of the revenue generated from the tax.

These proceeds would not replace funds the county currently provides the medical center to pay for indigent care.

Instead, the tax would help offset what officials are describing as a crisis in care largely attributed to decreased federal and state funding for health services for the poor, and rising numbers of uninsured and underinsured people in the county. An estimated 40,000 people in Alameda County are uninsured.

The medical center has an $86 million deficit and has closed two outpatient clinics.

"Voters need to know the huge deficit is not due to waste but due to declining numbers of insured patients and state cuts," said Dr. Ron Adler, a physician at Highland and Alta Bates hospitals.

Other hospitals could get a share of the money raised from the tax to offset their own indigent care. The remaining 25 percent -- perhaps $15 million to $20 million a year -- would be split among other health providers, including community-based clinics, uncompensated emergency admissions, public and mental health and substance abuse services.

The Alameda Health Consortium, a network of clinics serving the poor that includes Valley Community Health in Pleasanton, La Clinica de la Raza in Oakland and Tri-City Health Center in Fremont, asked the Board of Supervisors for a dedicated 10 percent of the tax money.

But the supervisors ultimately decided they wanted a say in how that remaining money would be spent.

"The 25 percent gives flexibility for potentially more than 10 percent going to any one group," Supervisor Keith Carson told a string of health providers who came forward to ask for their share before the supervisors' vote.

Under state law, the supervisors must hold a second read-ing and vote of the measure, which will take place on Dec. 2. The ordinance language will not change in any substantive way before the second vote -- expected to be unanimous as well.

The Alameda County Taxpayers Alliance threw in its support behind the measure once assured the tax would expire in 15 years, in the year 2019.

Still, some present at the vote questioned whether the money would be spent wisely.

"What I am concerned about is what this ordinance does not do -- require fiscal responsibil-ity of the medical center," said Alane Friedrich, a member of the county Mental Health Board.

Staff at the medical center cheered at the vote, but overall the tone was somber.

Last Wednesday, a longtime physician at John George Psychiatric Pavilion, Dr. Erlinda Ursua, was killed. A female patient, Rene Pavon, 37, has been charged with her murder.

Contact Rebecca Vesely at

rvesely@angnewspapers.com.

Vicky Whitson, a psychiatric technician at John George, told the supervisors she hoped that the sales tax would help pay for more staff at the facility.

"The situation with Dr. Ursua never should have happened," Whitson said.

Contact Rebecca Vesely at rvesely@angnewspapers.com.