County OKs Referendum on Hospital Wing Plan : Supervisors: Unless a court appeal succeeds, the ballot vote on the facility will be held in March. Community Memorial will challenge the measure.

Left with scant options after a judge ruled against the county earlier this week, the Board of Supervisors voted grudgingly Tuesday to place a referendum on the public hospital’s proposed new outpatient wing on the March ballot.

Unless the county can mount a successful appeal in court, voters will decide March 26 whether Ventura County Medical Center can build a $51-million wing using bond-like certificates.

Before taking Tuesday’s vote, county leaders stated they will face a tough campaign sponsored by Community Memorial Hospital to defeat the ballot measure.

“I think it is going to be a very difficult election,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said. “Our job will be to try to say the truth to the taxpayers, to do it without spending their money.”

Community Memorial officials argue that the project would drain money from public coffers and patients from the private hospital, while supervisors maintain that the rival facility spread misleading information on the project’s actual cost and scope to get voters to sign its referendum petition.

County health officials say the new wing would actually save the county money by consolidating outpatient clinics now housed in leased, decrepit and--in some cases--seismically unsafe buildings.

They also say the project would not involve increasing taxes because the state has pledged to reimburse at least 51% of the project’s cost with federal grant money. The remaining amount would be covered by hospital revenues and savings generated from the consolidation, officials say.

Earlier this year, a judge threw out a suit that Community Memorial filed in attempts to block the project. The private hospital came back with a petition drive to put the matter on the March ballot. The county then went to court in an effort to stop the referendum.

But on Monday, Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Stevens ruled that the measure should appear on the ballot, discarding the county’s argument that the private hospital had waited too long to file its petition.

The ballot measure, as worded, asks voters to reject the county’s decision approving the $51-million financing plan. It would require a simple majority to pass.

Following a closed-session meeting Tuesday, Noel Klebaum, assistant county counsel, said the county has not decided whether to appeal Stevens’ decision. Klebaum said the opinion issued by the judge was preliminary and the county would act when Stevens issues a final ruling, expected in a few weeks.

“No decisions have been made one way or another,” Klebaum said. “The options will be evaluated very thoroughly.”

Klebaum said the county could request a writ of mandate from the state 2nd District Court of Appeal that would nullify the referendum immediately. But Klebaum said the court could refuse to hear the writ of mandate.

John McDermott, an attorney representing Community Memorial, said the appeal court generally turns down more than 90% of such requests.

Klebaum said the other option remains to file an appeal with the higher court, but that the county may have to wait until after the March election for a hearing. If the higher court reversed Stevens’ decision, the ruling would disqualify the election results, Klebaum said.

But McDermott played down the chance of such an outcome.

“In this circumstance, I think it is very unlikely,” McDermott said.

With the election three months away, Community Memorial representatives have formed a political group called Taxpayers for Quality Health Care to run the referendum campaign. Hospital officials declined to say how much they will spend, but said they will provide the group the amount it needs to deliver their message to voters.

Last week the group blanketed more than 220,000 registered county voters with a four-page political mailer.

“We want to have the supervisors prove to us that this is a project that is truly needed,” said Laura Dahlgren, the group’s spokeswoman, adding that Community Memorial wants all area hospitals including the county facility to participate in a regional health-care study. “Fifty-one million is an incredible amount of money,” she said.

A citizens’ group called SMART, or Saving Money as Responsible Taxpayers, has also formed to combat Community Memorial’s campaign to defeat the outpatient care wing. Patricia Weinberger, the group’s treasurer, said SMART will distribute flyers, sponsor speakers and perform voter outreach to tell the public that construction of the wing will not raise taxes or add new hospital beds.

But Weinberger said unlike the private hospital, the county cannot spend any money to deliver its message.

“[Community Memorial] has got beau coup bucks,” said Weinberger, estimating that Community Memorial has spent more than $500,000 on professional signature gatherers and political mailers for the referendum. “It is the old David and Goliath routine going on here and we are going to be the ones with the slingshot.”