Hospital bond OK'd for ballot

Sonoma hospital directors Wednesday put a $35 million bond measure on the November ballot, saying that the survival of critical health care in the valley hangs in the balance.

"This is as good as it gets, folks," said Arnold Riebli, a Sonoma Valley Hospital District board member. "It's fish-or-cut-bait time . . . this is what it will take to save a community hospital for the Sonoma Valley."

It's the third time the district has gone to voters in the past two years, with both previous measures failing because of controversy over the location of a proposed hospital.

Carl Gerlach, the district's chief executive officer, said the message from voters was clear -- they want the district to maximize existing facilities instead of building on a new site.

This bond measure will do that, while stimulating business to get the hospital closer to profitability, officials say.

The $35 million will be used to build a new central heating and air-conditioning plant in the parking lot, pay for seismic upgrades to extend the life of the west wing to 2030, provide other building upgrades, buy new medical equipment and refinance previous renovation debt.

The owner of a $275,000 home, the average assessed value of a Sonoma Valley home, would pay $37.65 a year during the 20-year life of the bond.

The measure will require approval by two-thirds of voters.

The district still has to come up with a way to replace the hospital's central wing, which houses the emergency room, operating room and imaging center. It is seismically substandard and under a state mandate to be replaced by 2020.

"Two failed bond measures and voter surveys say no new site," Gerlach said. "Our focus now is to continue service for the next 20 years."

In the unsuccessful $45 million bond measure in April, the district sought $10 million to buy a nearby piece of property and begin planning for a new hospital.

In the unsuccessful $148 million measure in the May 2006 election, the district wanted to build a new hospital on farmland owned by the Leveroni family, who were unwilling sellers.

Hospital directors said approval of the bond measure on November's ballot would be a shot in the arm for the hospital, which through the controversy of the previous bond measures has lost doctors and been unable to attract new ones.

The hospital this past fiscal year lost about $3 million, or the same amount that an existing parcel tax brings in.

"This will reignite a a level of confidence that we haven't seen in the medical community," said board member Mike Nugent. "It will be a wonderful renaissance for the hospital; this will solve a lot of ills."

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.