County to move ahead with area tax district for Tonopah hospital

TONOPAH — Nye County is forging ahead with bringing back a hospital district for the financially troubled Nye Regional Medical Center, which is estimated to bring in $750,000 in tax revenue annually.

The taxes being diverted to the Tonopah hospital district won’t be new, just current ones taken out of other areas.

At Monday’s County Commission meeting, County Manager Pam Webster said that those that will be included in the proposed district have been notified.

“We did get the pro forma up to all the affected entities to incorporate and have available for their budget hearings,” Webster said. “Most of them were expecting it, so it wasn’t a surprise.”

A hospital district is a taxing entity that funds specialty and/or hospital care to those people residing within the area of the approved district. Northern Nye had a hospital district from 1984 until 1999, where it was dissolved, citing a severe financial emergency.

A special meeting of the Board of County Commissioners is set for Friday May 29, which will be to sort out the county’s budget, with the hospital district included in those talks.

“We do have to incorporate it also to the Nye County budget, the Manhattan and Gabbs budgets as well,” Webster said.

“At the same meeting we have the special meeting, we’ll set up the hospital district and have a budget for the hospital district at that time.”

Nye Regional Medical Center is the major cause for the deficit in the area, as Tonopah Town Board member Horace Carlyle estimated that the hospital is in debt in excess of $1 million at a board of commissioners meeting in April.

Carlyle said that the situation is as bad as it was in 2013, when the hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Tonopah Town Manager James Eason added that doctors and vendors were not being paid due to the financial crisis they’re facing.

The creation of a hospital district, along with a new 20-year lease in December with Prime Care Nevada, the corporate entity the hospital operates under, is part of the bankruptcy settlement agreement to help the hospital become financially stable.

Showing how dire the situation in the northern part of the county is, all one county commissioner could do is offer his best wishes to obtaining aid to the faltering medical center.

“Good luck,” said commissioner Frank Carbone.

“Good luck to hanging on to a hospital,” questioned commissioner Lorinda Wichman, whose district includes Tonopah.

“Yep,” Carbone said.