tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18900415.post5117510842699171338..comments2024-01-22T13:41:53.129-08:00Comments on collin park: In which your blogger removes any doubt that he's a wackoCollinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13754585516151204932noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18900415.post-87848967203662733722010-10-18T19:24:53.920-07:002010-10-18T19:24:53.920-07:00Mr. Park,
Thank you for taking the time to share ...Mr. Park,<br /><br />Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on our upcoming election. I want to take a moment to respond to your thoughts about the Sequoia Healthcare District. The District's mission shifted some time ago from managing Sequoia Hospital to providing funding for community-based health education, screening and prevention programs. The District's shift represents a fundamental shift in the way care is delivered. In 1950, when the District and the hospital were opened, healthcare was largely delivered within the walls of a hospital. Now, decades later, while we still rely on hospitals for accute in-patient services, most care is delivered in the community by public or not-for-profit organizations. To assure that this community care is the best it can be, Sequoia Healthcare District and other healthcare districts nationally shifted their focus from being "hospital districts" to being "healthcare districts." Sequoia Healthcare District now funds programs for children, programs for seniors, nutrition programs, health screening programs etc. all based in the community.<br /><br />Jack Hickey, Michael Stogner and Frederick Graham have promised to dissolve the District and lower our taxes. The trouble with their promise is that by law, even if a special district, like the Sequoia Healthcare District, is dissolved property taxes will not be lowered and the money will not revert to property owners or tax payers. Instead the money that would have gone to the Sequoia Healthcare District will be turned over to the state. We loose our local tax dollars, the local benefit from the healthcare programs the District funded and any local control or oversight into how this money is spent. This is thanks largely to Prop 13 which locks in our property tax rates. This isn't just my opinion. At Jack Hickey's request, the Sequoia Healthcare District's counsel conducted a thorough review of the relevant tax laws and they come to the same conclusion: Dissolving the district will not lower our taxes. The District is a public entity and you can request this legal review if you want to look at it yourself.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362090754281253noreply@blogger.com