Dear
Liberty Dispatch, I feel someone needs to speak to the fleecing of
Dayton, Texas by the Liberty County Hospital District- as follows:
Taxpayers
within the Liberty County Hospital District might get another chance at some
relief if Dayton leadership follows through with their inquiry. Property owners
within the city limits of Dayton and the school districts of Liberty, Devers,
Hull-Daisetta, and Hardin (except for the two northernmost voting precincts of
Hardin ISD) have watched as a Liberty lawyer and his buddies initiated and
rammed through the establishment of a taxing district to fund the local
privately-owned hospital the Liberty-Dayton Regional Medical Center (LDRMC) on
North Travis in Liberty. Then Stratton in Houdini-like fashion established a
hospital board that he seems to run with an iron fist.
All
of the things that happen to create this boondoggle taxing entity have not been
without objection. In fact, Stratton lost his first effort to get the district
approved by voters. In what seemed like a “taxpayers be damned” move, Stratton
and friends re-drew the district lines slightly different and squeaked by the
voters in an extremely low turnout election. Since then there has been talk
ever so often of circulating a petition, but no one has taken charge and done
much... until the first of 2013. Now Stratton has received requests
from Dayton Mayor Felix Skarpa and City Manager David Douglas for portions of
that tax money to be given to the city of Dayton for the city’s use in seeking
the creation of a Hermann-Memorial Convenience Clinic in Dayton.
Stratton’s
refusal to release any funds to Dayton reminds me of President Ronald Reagan’s
response to liberals - “There they go again”. We could give Stratton the
benefit of the doubt and guess that he truly believed no private hospital would
come forward if the current one did not get taxpayer assistance and give him an
award for saving lives. Or we could consider the millions and millions of
dollars property owners are having sucked out of their collective pockets
because of Stratton and ask a few more questions – the last question and the
most important one being “Is this the way taxpayers/voters want this handled or
have we been railroaded? Do we want to fund a private company where our money
seems to be going down into black hole with subpar care and outdated facilities
indicating bigger bills and debt are in the not too distant future?
Stratton
scheme has had his friend Bill Buchanan the minority owner of KSHN running
interference for them since the start. Recent reports have just been more of
the same. The radio reports have quibbled about whether Dayton’s taxes have
been $500,000 plus or $600,000 plus and whether Dayton is funding half or
thirty percent of Stratton’s cash kitty. Or when the Mayor Skarpa expressed
dissatisfaction over the auditing of the whole thing, KSHN reported Skarpa had
been sent the results of an audit.
With
the allocation of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money being questioned
Mayor Skarpa and Dayton City Manager David Douglass, KSHN seems to be trying to
make them sound like malcontents rather than validate the fact there is a large
number of people who listen to their station and live in this area who do not
like the hospital district or the new tax or the funding of a private hospital
and there are other options.
Local media can report all they want that Stratton answered all of Dayton’s questions, but what they should do is ask questions of their own. Has a list of any and all owners of this hospital been made public? NO
When
Stratton simply says he cannot turn over money to the City of Dayton because it
is a government entity, is he telling them how they can set up so they can
receive funding or does he have an interest in making sure the majority of
money continues to go to his good friends at the liberty hospital? When the
Dayton folks went public, Stratton pointed out that the district has budgeted
$715,000.00 for indigent care and some Dayton businesses like the Marshall
Family Practice and the Patel practice are eligible for a portion of it.. But in the absence of him offering advice as to how Dayton
could do what the hospital in Liberty has done, it seems like this statement is
meant to pacify and, it just maybe the inclusion of a couple of other
businesses is simply to fulfill a legal requirement so Stratton can funnel his
scheme to the Liberty hospital.
In
another area of questioning, Stratton indicated that no member of the district
board receives money for his or her service on the board or money as LDRMC
board members. Knowing how lawyers split hairs with wording however, we cannot
say how much money Stratton, or his lawyer friends have received for legal
services however. Or have we just missed KSHN asking this question.
The
old guard in this county is losing their grip, but they still are able to pull
together stuff like this hospital tax thing. Saying over and over “it saves
lives” or “you will be for it when you have an emergency” does not excuse the
back to back elections to force this on this area. There were, and are, other
options. But as long as this scheme exists we will never see the free market in
action.
There
they go again; taking our money so they can help us. And sooner or later,
naming something after themselves for the ef fart. There the liberal media goes
again, looking out for bigger government and “knowing better than us” so much
they may actually believe their own slanted reporting is “justified”.
Anonymously submitted- Prior Liberty County Hospital District
LD Note: The opinions expressed in this op-ed do not necessarily express the opinions of this blogs contributors.
