☆ If Santa Clara County public hospitals are so special, why a general sales tax? (1/4)
Measure A money can be spent on anything. But even if it does get sunk into SC County’s health system, well, why? SVTA Board Member Elizabeth Brierly asks why the county overleveraged into failing facilities when 94% of CA hospitals are private. There’s a market if the Supes wanted to trim the fat. Instead, they recently rejected an offer on O’Connor. An Opp Now exclusive Q&A.
Opportunity Now: Proponents of Measure A will say that Santa Clara has a public hospital system that is at risk of collapsing if taxes don’t go up to save it. Is that true?
Silicon Valley Taxpayer Association: Only 6% of hospitals in California are county public hospitals. The other 94% are private hospitals that accept a variety of insurance such as Medicare and Medi-Cal. Santa Clara County has over-leveraged itself in the hospital business. It now has more beds than LA County.
They can simply sell a hospital to reduce their risk. But the county will tell you, ‘Oh, we kept these hospitals from closing.’ That's not true as there is always a private buyer depending on the price. When O'Connor Hospital was for sale, Prime Healthcare, out of Southern California, made an offer to buy the hospital. But Prime Healthcare wasn't as union-friendly as the county, so the state attorney general running for US Senate at the time made it a lot more difficult for that transaction to happen as a favor to SEIU. When that failed, O’Connor Hospital went to the county.
Again 94% of the hospitals in California are private, and are all regulated by the State of California.
ON: But practically speaking, if they don’t sell a hospital, and if state funding isn’t a guarantee, isn’t the only surefire way to save the county public health system a temporary tax?
SVTA: The county is projecting a reduction of revenue, however has not produced concrete evidence. They have not publicly shared the model they are basing their projections on. There is no billion-dollar loss of funds now and their projections assume the state legislature does nothing which we know will not be the case.
ON: Why not?
SVTA: Most of these changes do not occur until January 2027, which will then have an impact on the budget they pass in July of 2027. The 2025 Measure A ballot measure has a lack of transparency and data. The county has time to prove their projections are actually accurate and in the future be transparent when asking voters in 2026 if they want to consider raising taxes.
ON: So, they’re raising taxes two years in advance of a projected shortfall? What will they do with the money in the meantime?
SVTA: The county didn't put any plan in place before the vote on what to do with new revenue. So we have no idea if they intend to offer new programs or if they plan on holding that cash for a projected deficit when it occurs two years from now.
Unfortunately, the County would not hold the money in reserves and would bend to whatever 3 of 5 supervisors want money for, such as new, non-core county programs while they neglect core county services for the homeless and mentally ill.
ON: Shouldn't they tell what they're going to do with the money?
SVTA: Absolutely. However, this is a general tax. At any given time, as few as three members of the Board of Supervisors can vote to direct this money to be spent on anything.
ON: Anything?
SVTA: Examples include spending a million dollars on a plagiarized textbook about the county (which isn't the role of government), or valet parking, or budget allocations to consultants.
What the county did here, with the lack of transparency, definitely erodes trust in our elected representatives.
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