GRMC approves budget, tax rate

Graham Hospital District approved their FY 2023 budget and tax levy following a public hearing held Wednesday. The Board of Directors approved the proposed tax rate of $0.319184 per $100 valuation, which matches, but does not exceed the voter approval tax rate.

According to the Tax Rate Calculation Sheet filed by the district, the total taxable value on properties within the district increased from $917,823,302 in 2021 to $1,064,161,343 in 2022, which includes $8,460,167 in taxable value of new improvements and new personal property located in new improvements.

“The valuations (...) were up this year. They were ($1,064,161,343) total valuation that we could establish the tax rate upon. And that is inclusive of ($8,460,167) worth of new properties. The actual existing was ($1,055,701,176) plus ($8,460,167) new, gets you to ($1,064,161,343),” Graham Regional Medical Center CEO Shane Kernell said. “The voter approved rate of ($0.319184 per $100 valuation) is our recommendation for the budget this year and I have got that as scenario number one. The additional taxes they would produce are $278,000 above last year. Now keep in mind, last year, because of some calculation differences, (...) we actually produced less revenue than we did the year before that, almost $300,000. So the goal this year is to come back up to where we normally are.”

With Medicare and Medicaid reductions and inflation on items, such as oxygen increasing by 100%, the hospital decided Wednesday to set their rate at the proposed voter approval tax rate. The rate will be raised 8% over the no-new-revenue tax rate of $0.293647 per $100 valuation, which is the rate that will raise the same amount of property tax revenue from the same properties in the 2021 and 2022 tax year. The tax rate will raise more taxes for maintenance and operations than last year’s tax rate.

“The rate is a reduction from 2021. Last year’s (tax rate) was ($0.3394 per $100 valuation),” Kernell said. “The rate is lower, but it produces more revenue so thus it is a tax increase because values have gone up.”

For the full story, see the Saturday, Oct. 1 edition of The Graham Leader.