A presumably slimmed-down model of a controversial taxing district in assist of Fishermen’s Neighborhood Hospital in Marathon will proceed for one ultimate yr, in line with a 3-2 vote by the Marathon Metropolis Council.
Confirmed in a particular name assembly on March 31, Marathon Mayor Lynn Landry, Vice Mayor Jeff Smith and councilwoman Robyn Nonetheless voted to proceed the tax, whereas councilman Kenny Matlock and councilwoman Lynny Del Gaizo voted towards it.
The ultimate yr of the Center Keys Well being Care Municipal Companies Taxing Unit (MSTU), instituted by the Monroe County Fee in 2018 with the assist of Marathon and Key Colony Seashore, will run for fiscal yr 2026 and can fulfill the remaining steadiness on a most 10-year, $15 million pledge.
The tax was initially billed as funding to assist brick-and-mortar development for Fishermen’s Hospital, destroyed in Hurricane Irma. In a transfer that has remained a topic of criticism all through the 7 years of the tax, the district was later modified to assist reimbursement for the care of underinsured and indigent sufferers when municipal leaders realized that funds raised from a taxing district couldn’t be lawfully used to again development prices and not using a binding referendum vote.
Since its inception, the MSTU has netted roughly $2 million per yr from Center Keys taxpayers from Marathon to Conch Key. Properties within the taxing district have been assessed at an annual charge of 0.5 mills, or $50 per $100,000 in taxable worth.
Final week, Monroe County Tax Collector Sam Steele instructed the Weekly that his workplace has collected $14,438,498 from constituents within the taxing district. On Monday night time, Baptist officers instructed the council the hospital has $774,339 remaining in reimbursements to achieve the $15 million. Tax revenues are collected by the county, and finally paid to Baptist to reimburse documented bills stemming from the care of indigent or underinsured sufferers.
As Monroe County is the governing physique that adopted the tax in 2018, with Marathon and Key Colony Seashore “opting in,” Marathon is unable to independently alter the MSTU millage charge. Nonetheless, the decision handed Monday night time states that Marathon will proceed to take part within the MSTU for the ultimate yr provided that the county fee reduces the utilized millage to satisfy, however not exceed, the steadiness of the unique $15 million dedication.
Within the fiscal yr ending in September 2024, Fishermen’s turned a revenue of $17.5 million, in line with an annual monetary report. Nonetheless, hospital CFO Patti Boylan instructed the council that when mixed with the hospital’s buy worth, the next and sudden bills of each a discipline hospital and modular hospital within the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, capital investments and losses from Baptist’s native doctor practices, the corporate stands at a internet lack of $31.2 million since buying Fishermen’s in 2017.
“Baptist stepped up and made the funding into the neighborhood, with the generosity of the neighborhood, to open up a brand-new hospital, after which end off the complete campus final yr with the brand-new Walsh Household Medical Arts Constructing,” stated Fishermen’s CEO Drew Grossman. “Most likely the most important (service) is having most cancers care proper right here within the Keys with our chemo infusion providers, and we’re not accomplished there. We’re going to maintain increasing these providers.”
Monday’s particular name session drew a a lot bigger crowd than the week prior, when a last-minute addition to debate the MSTU precipitated a stir for native residents.
Talking earlier than the council, proponents of the tax stated they seen the unique $15 million determine as a promise to be saved by the town, praising Baptist’s willingness to put money into the Center Keys neighborhood as rural hospitals throughout the USA are pressured to shut. Detractors cited myriad billing, insurance coverage, accessibility and staffing points, saying they felt the exclusion of providers like pediatric care and frequent affected person transfers to different amenities constituted a damaged promise to the Marathon neighborhood.
“I used to be in favor of supporting Baptist initially,” stated Marathon resident Dion Watson. “However we don’t have a neighborhood hospital – we’ve a mash unit. It runs us in and runs us out, and the second you stroll within the door, it’s ‘How are you going to pay for it?’”
Dr. Alex Palma, who himself spent seven years working in Baptist’s system in Miami and the Keys however has since turn out to be an outspoken opponent of the taxing district, known as the levy “the precise determination then, however the unsuitable one at the moment.”
“After I labored with Baptist in Miami, it was among the finest experiences I’ve had in a hospital,” he instructed the Weekly by cellphone after the assembly. “However my downside is continuous to assist a worthwhile hospital that’s doing so effectively by itself. In the event that they had been within the pink, this is able to be a unique dialog.”
“What the hospital has accomplished for us, I don’t know how one can repay that,” stated Baptist Well being Basis director Jane Packard. “However all we’re speaking about tonight is dedication. We solely have $780,000 disregarded of $15 million. We’re speaking lower than a yr. … If we don’t commit now, who’re we?”
“As I learn by way of the previous minutes of conferences, (Fishermen’s CEO’s) direct quote was that the providers supplied shall be full providers besides OB,” stated Matlock. “They’re not assembly their finish of the deal in my ebook. … It’s onerous for me to know forcing a tax on the general public to make a really well-off group more comfortable.”
“We train our youngsters to honor their work and comply with by way of,” stated Nonetheless. “(Baptist) struggles with staffing, the identical as everyone else who owns a enterprise right here in our neighborhood and nationwide. That isn’t their fault. … I’m not negating the factors which were made tonight, however on the finish of the day, we made a dedication.”
“I believe this neighborhood has stepped as much as the plate in the direction of getting a hospital right here as a neighborhood,” stated Del Gaizo. “I do know it’s not a greenback quantity (that persons are towards), however I believe it’s the precept, and I believe the neighborhood has spoken.”
“I acknowledge all of the turnover we’re having (at Fishermen’s), however having the care out there, you possibly can’t actually put a worth on that, in comparison with many communities who don’t have a neighborhood hospital,” stated Smith, including that he “hope(d) (Baptist) was listening to the neighborhood and to us concerning the providers we really feel we want.
“They had been certainly one of two (hospitals) which were inbuilt rural areas within the final decade in the USA, they usually’re closing on daily basis.”
“I’ve a mother-in-law who’s been battling a illness for shut to twenty years, and Baptist most likely saved her life twice in the previous couple of years,” stated Landry. “We perceive that we want this hospital. It’s not good – perhaps it doesn’t supply all of the providers we predict they need to, however they do supply providers they usually’re making an attempt to convey extra.”
Precise millage for the 2025-26 tax, if decreased, shall be decided all through the county’s annual price range course of primarily based on property values supplied by the Monroe County Property Appraiser Workplace in July.
County Mayor Professional Tem Michelle Lincoln instructed the Weekly by cellphone on April 2 that whereas she couldn’t communicate to, or for, different commissioners concerning the tax earlier than a proper vote this summer time, she would assist a lowered millage charge to achieve, however not exceed, the $15 million threshold, and that she had mentioned the decreased charge with county employees.