Plan to Fund New County Hospital Wing OKd : Health: Foes say $51-million project may not be needed because medical demands by illegal immigrants will drop with Prop. 187.

A financing plan for a new wing at Ventura County’s public hospital was approved Tuesday despite a pending lawsuit by its chief rival and complaints from taxpayer advocates that not enough studies have been done to warrant the $51-million price tag.

The Board of Supervisors agreed unanimously to authorize the issuance of $51 million worth of so-called certificates of participation to fund an expansion at Ventura County Medical Center. The certificates are bond-like debt that must be repaid with substantial interest.

But opponents complained that there may be no need for the new wing because of the passage last week of Proposition 187, the controversial measure to deny most public services to illegal immigrants.

“That’s a lot of money to put out on a project that might not need to be built,” said H. Jere Robings of the Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers.

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A report issued earlier this month by the state Health and Welfare Agency concluded that the number of patients taking advantage of public health care in Ventura County has grown fifteen-fold since 1989.

County health care officials said the higher number of poor people served by the medical center would raise the amount the state reimburses Ventura County for caring for the poor.

But under Proposition 187, most medical services would be denied to illegal immigrants, expansion opponents said, meaning there could be fewer patients to serve in the future.

Also, the 70% state share of the expansion cost is based on the percentage of poor patients treated at Ventura County Medical Center. If the patient caseload dips, so does the amount of money that the state would contribute toward the construction of the new wing.

The board decision Tuesday also allows county officials to retain a bond attorney to put together the financing package, which will cost almost $75 million to repay over 15 years.

“This proposal has been around a long time. It has been studied,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said. “Those who are opposed to the project are still opposed to the project. We could study this forever.”

County officials said the state will pay for 70% of the $51-million expansion, which consists of 105,000 square feet of new hospital space to consolidate a number of leased offices the hospital views as dilapidated and ridden with asbestos.

It would also include a multilevel parking garage for $6 million.

“When it rains outside, it rains inside,” medical center volunteer Barbara Thompson said of the leased family care center, one of several clinics that would relocate to the new five-story, $33.2-million structure.

“Some rooms are closed off because they are unsafe. One wall of the waiting room is no longer vertical. It bulges,” Thompson said. “All of the volunteers are very supportive of the plan. It’s just basic common sense.”

But several taxpayer advocates urged supervisors to wait until a lawsuit brought against Ventura County by Community Memorial Hospital is settled, and they complained that the state funds have not yet been approved.

“We have not seen any documentation . . . that the state has approved this project,” Robings said.

The financing package presented by county health care officials assumes several conditions in concluding that the repayment will not cost the county more than 30% of the expense, estimated at more than $24 million over 15 years.

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It assumes that net incomes continue at present levels, state contributions do not decline, the hospital becomes more efficient and the state pays 70% of the cost from a fund set up to help public hospitals expand.

But Michael Saliba, executive director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn., said it was unwise to make those assumptions.

“There will be more demands on the county general fund if those assumptions . . . prove to be untrue,” Saliba said. “Before a decision is made, taxpayers deserve--and you deserve--a financial analysis and feasibility study.”

Under current estimates, the county would be obligated to repay more than $24 million over 15 years beginning in 1997. Of that amount, about $18 million would come from the medical center budget and the balance would come out of the county general fund.

No one from Community Memorial Hospital, situated two blocks from the county hospital in Ventura, showed up Tuesday to argue against the financing plan or expansion.

But the private hospital has claimed in a lawsuit that the county is going beyond its mission of treating only Ventura County’s most needy patients.

“With 187 and health care reform, expanding the (county) health care facility by almost double is a waste of taxpayer money,” said Donald L. Benton, a Community Memorial trustee.

Benton said it is unlikely that the county will continue to see such dramatic increases in the number of poor people eligible for health care services at Ventura County Medical Center.

“That is not going to be an expanding population,” he said. “Therefore, the need of the county, in order to meet its legislative mandate, is going to diminish.”

The trial is still months away. But at a hearing scheduled Monday in Ventura County Superior Court, county attorneys will ask Judge Frederick A. Jones to rule that Community Memorial has no legal basis for making that complaint.

None of those concerns, however, convinced supervisors to rethink their support of the county hospital expansion.

“I just wish I was going to be around when ground is broken,” said Supervisor Maria E. VanderKolk, who opted not to seek reelection.