Voters will decide Nov. 2 whether to increase a countywide sales tax by 1⁄4 of a cent to go toward a new Allen County Hospital.
Members of the Allen County Healthcare Committee address questions about the issue.
Q: If the bond issue is $25 million and there are only 25 beds, isn’t a cost of $1million per bed quite a lot? What is the actual cost of construction? Who came up with this number, what are their credentials and how were they selected?
A: Part 1 — What is the cost of construction?
Actual cost of construction for a 60,000-square-foot hospital is estimated to be $17,762,000 according to the consultants hired by the county to prepare the Allen County Hospital Master Plan report that was released last August.
The other $7,238,000 of the $25 million bond issue proposal before the voters includes financing expense, required interest and debt service reserves; furnishings, fixtures and equipment; contingency reserves and land acquisition.
Calculated on a square-footage basis the new hospital cost is $296 per square foot when you divide the actual construction cost ($17.7 million) by the square footage (60,000). This figure is in line with other recent hospital projects in the area.
For anyone interested in the detail of the new hospital construction costs, please look at page 117 of the Master Plan Report for Allen County Hospital. The report is available for viewing at the County Clerk’s office or you can get your own copy online by going to the county’s website, www. allencounty.org. Click on the tab that says “ACH Master Plan Report” and you will find the entire report — all 138 pages.
The estimate on the cost for a new hospital was prepared by a consulting group hired by the county. More information on the consulting group and the process that produced their report will be covered in Parts 2 and 3 of the answer to this question.
Only a few short weeks remain before the election. If you would like to help our voter information effort, write to “Yes Allen County Healthcare,” at A.C.B., Inc, 16 W. Jackson, Iola, KS 66749 or contact the Thrive Allen County office at 365-8128.
