Wednesday, February 19, 2020

[San Mateo County] Letter to the Editor: County health care cuts

In Ryan McCarthy’s article “Health care cuts target no group, supervisors told” in the Jan. 29 edition of the Daily Journal, Supervisor David Canepa is alleged to have said that “... San Mateo County may want to identify revenue as a solution to the budget problem.” 
I suggest that the county look no further than the $12,500,000 per year of property taxes collected by the Sequoia Healthcare District and more than $22,000,000 in cash and investments. Dissolution of this district and Peninsula Health Care District, its counterpart in North County, has been suggested by the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury and the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission ever since they sold their hospitals and morphed into philanthropic entities. Their activities are largely redundant and present an inequitable distribution of property taxes impacting those areas of the county outside their jurisdiction. They have never sought to let voters validate their philanthropic role as recommended by the 2000/2001 civil grand jury.
It’s time to petition LAFCo to pursue such action. Go for it, Supes. Other agencies sharing the SHD boundaries also have standing to petition for dissolution.
February 3, 2020
The Daily Journal
From Jack Hickey, Emerald Hll


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