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May 14, 2003
By MARK WAITEGroup wants PMC openOFFICIAL REQUEST GOES TO COMMISSION
The request was for the item to be discussed when the Nye County Commission meets in Amargosa Valley Monday, but no discussion has been scheduled. Specifically, Petell wants the commissioners to take action at that meeting to reopen PMC 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The medical facility has been vacant since April 1, 2002, when the lease with the previous provider, Dr. Georges Tannoury, expired without an extension from the now-defunct Pahrump Community Hospital District board of trustees. Petell's request comes with letters of support from Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo and Nevada District 36 Assemblyman Rod Sherer (R-Pahrump). DeMeo's letter states that emergency medical personnel in Pahrump are outstanding, but "it is almost impossible with the conditions that exist presently to maintain the golden hour for a patient suffering a serious medical condition." Sheriff DeMeo goes on to note that his responsibility to the community is first and foremost. "Some estimates place the opening of a hospital in Pahrump in approximately two to three years, depending upon the groundbreaking," he writes. "I would hate to be the one responsible for loss of life because interests of some are placed ahead of the life of one. "Even one day is too long to wait when a life can be saved if appropriate immediate care is necessary and it is not available, except only by an ambulance or helicopter ride into Las Vegas." Sherer, in his one-paragraph letter, writes, "I would like to see you open the Pahrump Medical Center. We are still paying for a closed facility. I understand that there is a lawsuit pending, but we need to have that facility opened." Pahrump taxpayers paid 5.75 cents per $100 of valuation for hospital district operating expenses and 7.28 cents per $100 for debt on the PMC facility in the fiscal year ending last June 30, 2002, audited figures show. The hospital district budget projected the combined 13.03 cent Pahrump hospital district tax rate would raise $382,000 for debt service and $315,023 for operating expenses in 2002. The Pahrump Community Hospital District was dissolved by Nye County Commissioners last August. An audit by accountant Dan McArthur showed the district had outstanding capital lease obligations of $129,866 as of the end of the last fiscal year June 30, 2002, and an outstanding balance of $1.33 million in bonds on the medical center's construction. Under the current schedule, the final payment on the $2.5 million in bonds, issued in July 1998, will occur on March 1, 2008. The hospital district had a payment of $302,994 in principal and $79,869 in interest due on the bonds in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002. |
