Rival Submits Vote Petition on Hospital Wing

Concerned about a threat to their own business, Community Memorial Hospital officials submitted a petition Thursday with more than twice the number of signatures needed for a countywide referendum on a new $51-million wing at the county hospital.

With the help of paid signature gatherers, Community Memorial Hospital collected 51,825 names on its petition within a month’s time to place the referendum on the March 26 ballot. The hospital hopes to block the sale of bond-like certificates needed to finance the Ventura County Medical Center project.

“We’re very pleased,” said Michael Bakst, executive director of Community Memorial. “It tells me that people are really interested in how their tax dollars are being spent.”

But county officials said the new wing is desperately needed and that they plan to file a lawsuit, possibly today, challenging the referendum and what they said was a misleading campaign to put the issue on the ballot.

“Everybody knows the lawsuit’s coming,” County Counsel James McBride said.

McBride maintains that Community Memorial has missed its chance to legally qualify its referendum for the ballot.

Under the law, he said, Community Memorial is required to collect petition signatures within 30 days of the Board of Supervisors’ decision authorizing the sale of the financing certificates.

Although the board voted last month to change the agency that will insure the certificates, McBride said the supervisors actually authorized the sale last December.

Community Memorial officials said they are confident the referendum will stand up to a court challenge. Bakst said the county would be violating the Democratic process to try and block the referendum.

“I think the county would be well-served to adhere to the rights of voters and not to try to block or thwart the process in any way,” said Bakst, who was joined by four private consultants hired by Community Memorial Hospital at a press conference at the Ventura County Government Center.

Community Memorial launched its referendum campaign last month after losing a lawsuit in which it charged that the taxpayer-funded county hospital was unfairly competing with other hospitals for private patients. The lawsuit, now on appeal, also charges that the planned outpatient wing at the medical center was another attempt to attract private patients.

Among Community Memorial’s other concerns is the promise of a 70% state reimbursement for construction and borrowing costs for the county project. Bakst said taxpayers could end up footing the entire bill should the state or federal government decide to cut health-care funding.

But county officials said the project’s financing plan is sound, and that they believe there is little if any chance of the state or federal government reneging on its commitment for funding.

County hospital officials also stress that the medical center is not expanding as Community Memorial alleges, but consolidating outpatient services now housed in leased--and in some cases dilapidated--buildings. They argue that combining the services in a new building would actually save the county money in the long run.

Bruce Bradley, assistant registrar of voters, said it will take about a week to randomly check the signatures gathered by Community Memorial. Once the names have been checked, the Board of Supervisors is legally bound to place the referendum on the spring ballot.