WILLCOX, Ariz. — Northern Cochise Community Hospital is asking voters within its hospital district to continue a property tax that hospital leaders say is critical to maintaining health care services in the rural community.
The hospital district, which includes Willcox, San Simon, Bowie, Cochise and Pearce, has been in place since 1969. The tax district has to be voted on every five years, it was last on the ballot in 2021.
Northern Cochise Community Hospital CEO Gary Kartchner said the tax brought in about $2 million last year and helped keep the hospital financially positive. Hospital officials say losing that funding could force them to consider cutting services.
“It allows us to actually have a hospital in a rural setting,” Kartchner said. “What some people don't realize is that our costs are fixed, so it doesn't matter whether we have a low census or a high census. We have to be able to staff and maintain a hospital 24/7.”
According to hospital officials, the tax is just over 1% for every $100 assessed property tax, and they say the rate has remained the same since the district began.
Willcox Vice Mayor Timothy Bowlby said he believes maintaining the hospital benefits the entire community and is an economic driver for the city.
“This is a tax that's good for the benefit of everyone,” he said. “You're voting for your neighbor who may need that more often than you do. They may need that swing bed. They may need that ER visit that saves their life.”
Some of the funding has also been used to upgrade hospital equipment, including X-ray technology.
Larry Engelhardt, the hospital’s imaging director, said having that technology available locally can keep patients from having to travel to Tucson for certain care.
“Having the technology here at our hospital versus having to travel to Tucson is you can receive the same care, and then the same abilities that they would have in Tucson, we would have here,” he said.
Kartchner said losing the tax revenue would force the hospital to take a close look at which services it could continue providing.
“Without them, we'd have to look really carefully at what services we wouldn't be able to offer,” he said. “And one thing I've learned as a leader of a rural hospital is that if they aren't available, many times patients just won't be able to access them, which leads to more expensive care down the road.”
Early voting is underway, with the election scheduled for Nov. 3.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
