Stuttgart to vote on tax to keep hospital running

Stuttgart voters will decide Tuesday on a 1 percent sales tax designed to bolster the Baptist Health Medical Center there.

Hospital administrator Terry Amstutz said a 2013 review of hospital finances found that the facility was going to “run in the negative” over the next three to five years because of decreasing patient loads, and that an immediate influx of cash would be needed to keep the hospital running.

Amstutz said the hospital has lost about $1.2 million over the past year because of federal cuts in the Medicare program.

“We depend 65 percent or better on Medicare,” Amstutz said. “When you are talking about losing more than $1 million in a year, that’s a lot for a small hospital to absorb.”

Amstutz said he projects that the sales tax would bring in $2.2 million per year for his facility. If it passes, the sales tax rate in Arkansas County will rise to 10.5 percent. The proposal does not include an end-date clause for the tax.

The hospital, which employs 250 full-time employees, has 49 beds and houses about 20 patients per day. Constructed in 1957, the facility is owned by the Stuttgart Regional Medical Center Board, which leases operations to Baptist Health.

Baptist Health has run the hospital since 2009. Amstutz said the private entity has spent $5 million to keep the hospital updated with state-of-the-art equipment, adding that money from the sales tax would be used to “ensure that we can keep the facility operating in the 21st century.”

If the tax doesn’t pass, Amstutz said, the hospital would be forced to cut back on services.

“We have gotten a lot of support from people in the community, so I feel pretty confident about this passing,” Amstutz said, noting that he is unaware of any organized opposition to the proposed sales tax.

“It’s important to educate people on where their money will go. After all, this is a tax we are talking about, and no one likes that word.”

Stuttgart Mayor Marianne Maynard called the hospital vital to the future of the community, especially because the city serves as a regional hub for smaller towns in southeast Arkansas.

“If we lost this hospital, we would lose our economic base for all of our industry,” Maynard said. “It might not happen overnight, but long-term, I feel it would be a real detriment. We have been on a positive incline over the past few years, and we want to keep it that way.”

Stuttgart resident Kathy Dyer said she and her family have used the hospital’s emergency rooms several times over the past decade. Last year, her 8-year-old son needed 20 stitches when he fell off his bike onto a jagged piece of metal while riding on the family’s farm.

She said she can’t imagine the hospital not being there.

“Supporting something like this is really important for the city, because it’s the only emergency room within 40 miles,” Dyer said. “Those 40 miles can mean life or death.”