GRMC board adopts effective rate in place of proposed rate

The Graham Hospital District Board on Tuesday voted to not adopt the 11.1 percent proposed tax rate increase from 0.388478 to 0.431590 per $100 valuation and instead adopt the effective rate of 0.399657 per $100 valuation.

The effective rate is the total tax rate needed to produce the same amount of tax revenue for Graham Regional Medical Center from the same properties in both the 2017 and 2018 tax year. The effective rate which is given by the Young Central Appraisal District will increase the rate to $0.399657 per $100 valuation. This will increase taxes for a property valued at $100,000 by $11.179.

The rollback rate of 0.431629 per $100 valuation is the sum of the maintenance and operations and debt service rates, a figure usually higher than the effective rate, unless the amount of debt has decreased. This rate is the highest rate the hospital may adopt before voters are entitled to petition for an election to limit the rate that may be approved to the rollback rate.

GRMC Chief Executive Officer Shane Kernell, on contract from Endeavor Healthcare, said during the meeting they had heard the public and reconfigured their budget and asked for the board to approve the effective rate instead of the proposed increase.

Board member Jon Garvey voted against the approval of the tax rate while Dr. Donald Behr, Suzy Graham, Wyatt Pettus, Terry Bishop, Michael Carmichael and Barrie Strickland voted in favor. The Graham Hospital District will see in an increase in tax revenue due the Young County CAD finding new properties worth $28,962,437. This new tax base will produce $102,051 more for GRMC. Kernell said this money will be used to get employees better benefits.

For more on the GRMC tax and budget read the Saturday Sept. 18 edition of The Graham Leader.