This month in Tulare, voters are being asked to weigh in on a big issue – whether or not to support a $55 million bond measure for hospital construction at the Tulare Regional Medical Center. The hospital last issued an $85 million bond back in 2005 to fund a new tower for the hospital. But the project went out of control, and construction stopped as the money ran out, with the tower incomplete.
Will voters choose to support the hospital in a special mail-in ballot election? And if they don’t what does it mean for the future of the hospital? The vote comes just months after voters in Visalia rejected a similar proposal to fund construction for the Kaweah Delta Hospital District. Joining us on Valley Edition to talk about the implications of this vote for the local health care community is Jim Houck a reporter with the Visalia Times Delta, and co-author or a special report on the future of Tulare Regional Medical Center.
