The St. Landry Parish Council approved placing a tax proposal for the Acadia-St. Landry Hospital Service District on the May 9 ballot.
Cindy Walters, hospital CEO, spoke at the Parish Council’s meeting Wednesday in Opelousas.
The proposal is for a 10-mill property tax for 10 years. The tax is estimated to raise $375,000 a year.
The tax will replace a 7.64-mill rate approved in 2011.
Parish Council member Timmy Lejeune said the hospital serves an area that includes St. Landry Parish.
The proposition did not state the election cost, which is required.
Walters recently spoke to the Crowley Rotary Club.
The following is from a Crowley Post-Signal story.
The 52-year-old hospital is licensed for 30 beds offering inpatient services, a swing-bed program, behavioral health program, diagnostics, six physicians on staff, respiratory and rehabilitation therapy, ground and air transport and an emergency room with an average 5-minute wait, Walters told Rotarians.
However, she went on to explained it is time for the hospital to rebuild much like other older critical access hospitals have had to do.
Current plans are to locate a new facility at 9600 Highway 35, 11 miles from the Rayne Interstate 10 exit. The 17-acre tract is already owned by the hospital.
The new hospital will be 70,000 square feet, twice the size of the current 35,000-square-foot building.
Estimated cost for the total project is $35 million and the projected completion date is 2022.
Funds for the project include a combination of a $24 million USDA loan; $5 million in new market tax credits; $2.12 million local bank loan; and $3.75 million community investment of 10 mills for 10 years.
The community investment increases the likelihood of receiving a USDA loan, according to Walters.
Those included in the millage vote include some precincts in Acadia Parish Wards 6 and 7 and precincts in St. Landry Parish Wards 8 and 11.
“We are planning on transforming health care for the community with this new hospital,” Walters said.
