A lower tax rate for South Broward property owners next year will translate into greater financial burden for the public hospital network, Memorial Healthcare System, after the South Broward Hospital District that governs Memorial voted this week to adopt a millage rate of .1863 for 2015 compared to this year’s rate of .40.
The 53 percent decrease from the prior year’s rate is expected to cut in half Memorial’s local taxpayer support — from an estimated $16.3 million this year to a projected $8.2 million in 2015, leaving Memorial only enough to cover its governmental obligations.
Those include paying Broward’s Medicaid Match program as well as tax collector commissions, property appraiser fees and other services.
With the reduction in local taxpayer support, Memorial will need to use operating revenue to cover an estimated $1 billion in uncompensated care costs next year — including clinical services for the uninsured — at the system’s six hospitals and its South Broward Community Health Services primary-care clinics.
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