On Thursday, hospital President and CEO, Brian Whitfield, and Chief Marketing Officer, Kayla Manginell, were invited to speak to the Idabel Lions Club following an invitation from Lions president, Don Shaw.
Kayla Manginell thanked the Lions Club for its recent donations to the hospital's charitable fundraising events like the annual Back-to-School Bash and the Foundation Gala. The Lions Club donated several hundred dollars to the causes, respectively. Manginell discussed how the events have helped hundreds of kids in the county.
"We've been fortunate enough with these events to supply school supplies, hair cuts, bicycles and so forth to hundreds of kids in our community," she said, "and the Lions Club's donation bought over 700 pieces of school supplies."
Brian Whitfield spoke at the luncheon, too. In a prepared presentation, Whitfield spoke about the 2022 efforts to pass a loding tax to fund a new hospital.
"We had that vote by over 65-percent in every precinct of this county and still the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned the election." Whitfield said. "We simply cannot sit in the past and have to look to the future and get it right as we go forward." he continued.
Whitfield presented two plans to the Lions Club: Proposal One would call for a complete overhaul and rehabilitation of the existing hospital's 115,000 square feet at a cost of $28.5 million versus Proposal Two would call for a brand-new, 61,000 square foot hospital at the Idabel Airport. Whitfield said that the hospital favors a new build.
"The hospital could save hundreds of thousands per year with a new hospital," Whitfield said. "The existing hospital costs close to $50,000 a month in utilites and overhead to run," he said, "compared to $15,000 a month in a new hospital."
Whitfield said that the hospitals current electic bill costs over $30,000 each month, especially in peak months of heat and cold.
Whitfield is scheduled to appear before the McCurtain County Board of County Commissioners on Monday, July 15 where he will formally ask the Commissioners to pass a resolution allowing a ballot and subsequent vote to be presented to voters to allow a redistribution of existing 3% lodging taxes to fund a new hospital. Whitfield said currently, the 3% lodging tax being collected goes to tourism, the county's general fund, and the Fair Board.
"Currently, 85-percent of the tax goes to tourism," Whitfield stated. "That equates to over $4 million a year to fund billboards and ads in places like Dallas and Oklahoma City in the likes of billboards and advertisements at the beginning of movies played at theatre's." Whitfield said that he, along with the residents of the county believes, that "dollars leaving here to go to Dallas could be kept here locally to ensure healthcare."
One Lions Club member present agreed.
"People that I have talked to have said the Tourism Board does not need that many millions a year."
Whitfield said he agreed and reitereated that a redistribution of the tax would still afford tourism close to $2 million a year
The hospital hopes voters will have a chance on November 5, 2024, to revisit the question when at the general election, voters can decide whether to allow a redistribution of the existing lodgint taxes. The hospital will present in their proposal to the county on July 15, a redistribution as follows:
42.5% to McCurtain Memorial Hospital
42.5% to Tourism
10% to the McCurtain County General Fund
5% to the McCurtain County Fair Board
The new proposal would make no changes to the distribution of the tax to the county general fund at 10% nor the Fair Board at 5%, which they both currently receive. The only proposed change would be to tourism.
McCurtain Memorial Hospital is in th early stages of planning a massive community education campaign that will include billboards, mailings, town halls and other advertisements leading up to the November election. Commissioners have until August to pass a resolution that will allow the ballot to be published and subsequently presented to voters.
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