Clayton SPLOST would help hospital | www.myajc.com

Voters will get to decide in May whether Clayton County should extend a 1-cent sales tax to pay for a package of new projects and provide $50 million to help the county’s struggling hospital stay afloat.

A 1-cent special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) beginning next year would collect nearly $218 million over six years for roads and building repairs, upgrades to public safety facilities and fleets, and technological improvements. Nearly a quarter of the money, $50 million, would go toward paying off Southern Regional Medical Center’s long-term debt: the remainder of a 25-year bond issued a few years ago.

Voters will decide May 20 if they want another round of capital projects at a time when many projects from two previous SPLOST campaigns haven’t been completed.

Before the county commission’s 3-1 vote Tuesday night to approve the SPLOST package, the head of Southern Regional talked about the hospital’s struggle to deal with the escalating costs of indigent care. About 30 percent of the 80,000 visits to its emergency room last year were people unable to pay, said James Crissey, Southern Regional’s president and chief executive. Federal budget and Medicaid cuts also have stripped the hospital of millions of dollars it used to get.

via Clayton SPLOST would help hospital | www.myajc.com.