Petition successfully blocks vote on $345 million bond for University Medical Center
EL PASO, Texas — A movement to block $345.7 million of certificates of obligation bonds for University Medical Center succeeded after garnering enough signatures in a petition.
The petition, submitted by the Libre Initiative, met the required amount of approved signatures needed to block commissioners court from voting on a CO bond requested by UMC. The petition needed to garner 25,164 signatures to block the vote. They surpassed that number and were able to gather more than 32,000 approved signatures.
UMC says they requested the bond, which would have increased the district’s property tax rate, to expand the number of critical care beds, create an urgent care center in central El Paso, and to create additional operating rooms, including a special operating room that would allow the hospital to care for burn victims. Right now, burn victims have to be sent to Lubbock for care.
A statement from UMC says, “The Hospital District respects the process involved and has significantly benefited by spending more than two months sharing the details of our project with the community.”
The hospital ended its statement by saying, “We look forward to our continued discussions with the community on how best to address our region's current and future healthcare needs.”
