{"id":877102,"date":"2026-10-10T04:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T04:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877102\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T04:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T04:58:12","slug":"in-southern-humboldt-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-messed-up-plans-for-a-new-hospital-measure-k-will-test-whether-residents-are-willing-to-pay-higher-property-taxes-to-make-the-finances-work-lost-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877102\/","title":{"rendered":"In Southern Humboldt, Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Messed Up Plans for a New Hospital. Measure K Will Test Whether Residents are Willing to Pay Higher Property Taxes to Make the Finances Work | Lost Coast Outpost"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A conceptual image of the planned new hospital for the Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District (aka SoHum Health). | All images courtesy SoHum Health.<\/p>\n

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The largest employer in Southern Humboldt County has \u201ca huge ask\u201d of the community at the ballot box this election season.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how Matt Rees, CEO of the Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District (aka SoHum Health), phrased it in a phone conversation earlier this week.<\/p>\n

For many years now, the district has been preparing to build a new hospital and clinic \u2014 designing the facility, securing a site, raising money and pursuing a federal loan. Measure K is now being presented as a key piece of the funding plan, and a test of whether local support can help carry the project across the finish line.<\/p>\n

At nearly 80 years old, Jerold Phelps Community Hospital in Garberville has been expanded and retrofitted over time, but such fixes only go so far, according to SoHum Health Outreach Manager and Development Director Chelsea Brown. And a deadline is looming. By January 1, 2030, all general acute care hospital buildings in California must be capable of remaining fully operational after a major earthquake.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur building is not able to do that,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThere\u2019s no way to retrofit it to make it meet those standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The district\u2019s plan is to build a replacement hospital and clinic on land it acquired next to Highway 101 in Garberville, on the parcel with the old schoolhouse that now houses Redwood Playhouse and the Garberville Pharmacy. Designs have been submitted to the state, Brown said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The project\u2019s financing plan has several parts. SoHum Health began a capital campaign in 2020 and raised the 10% down payment required for a USDA Rural Development loan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hospital district invested several millions of dollars from their general operating funds to complete the architectural designs and all the CEQA requirements and surveys and everything,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

And then, trouble.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in the process of applying for that USDA loan \u2026 when [President Donald Trump\u2019s] One Big Beautiful Bill (HR 1)<\/a> passed last summer,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

The loan application process required SoHum Health to make financial projections, and HR 1 messed with the math. The bill includes phased-in cuts to reimbursement for various programs, particularly ones tied to Medi-Cal and Medicare. (More than 80 percent of patients served by SoHum Health are on one or both of those programs, according to Brown.) Funding for some key programs will be cut by 30 percent, which will cost the district millions of dollars in revenues.<\/p>\n

After redoing the math with these Trump-induced cuts factored in, Brown said, \u201cOur financial projections no longer show that we would [have] the revenue needed to qualify for that [USDA] loan.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is, unless the district turns to the community for help. That\u2019s where Measure K comes in.\u00a0<\/p>\n


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The SoHum Healthcare District includes much of Southern Humboldt and a section of northern Mendocino County.<\/p>\n

How it would work<\/p>\n

Measure K would authorize the district to sell up to $25 million in general obligation bonds. A property tax on district residents would then fund repayment over the term of the bonds (likely 30 years). How much would the tax be? Roughly $80 per $100,000 of assessed property value per property owner, and it would replace a decades-old parcel tax of $125 (a flat rate per property).<\/p>\n

Measure K requires a two-thirds vote to pass. If it does, Rees said, some people will will pay less than they\u2019ve been paying under the current parcel tax, but most would pay more.<\/p>\n

If the measure passes, though, SoHum Health can borrow less from the USDA, according to Brown.<\/p>\n

Rees said it would also \u201cshow USDA Rural Development that there was a lot of community support for this project and would help in obtaining the financing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Such support has long been a hallmark of SoHum culture, Brown noted. Whether it was KMUD Radio, the Mateel Community Center or Jerold Phelps Community Hospital,\u00a0 she said, \u201cThey see a need and just decide, like, \u2018Okay, we\u2019re gonna make this happen.\u2019 That\u2019s the spirit that has really driven the success of our hospital for all these years at a time when rural hospitals are closing across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, SoHum Health\u2019s offerings have been expanding. When Southern Humboldt\u2019s only pharmacy closed during the pandemic, forcing residents to drive to Scotia or even farther for their prescription needs, the district stepped up and decided to open its own retail pharmacy, Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also added optometry services, and there has been property acquisition,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The hospital is currently expanding its physical therapy department, and with help from a $10 million revenue bond recently approved by the district board, the district has invested in property and equipment. But most of the district\u2019s improvements over the past decade have been paid for without adding more debt, according to Rees.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, just to give you a little insight, our property and equipment value 10 years ago was under $4 million,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, the property and equipment value for the hospital is $45 million. \u2026 [And] instead of getting debt to finance all of that, we actually financed all that through operations. Our debt only increased $1 million. Not too many companies can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, the Emergency Room at Jerold Phelps saw roughly 3,200 visits, and the district brought in $39 million in revenue. If the new hospital gets built, the district plans to significantly expand its existing skilled nursing facility (SNF) at the current hospital location.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SNF doesn\u2019t fall under the seismic mandate, so we will be able to repurpose the building to increase the number of skilled nursing beds,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe know how important the SNF is to the community. We hear often from family members of patients at the SNF who are grateful that skilled nursing care exists in SoHum. We\u2019re really excited about this future expansion.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of this growth is part of a strategic plan to increase revenue so the district can afford to make the loan payments and construct the new hospital, she explained.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just SoHum residents who receive care at Jerold Phelps. More than a third of the district\u2019s revenue comes from patients who live in Northern Humboldt, according to Rees. Some of that is due to injuries that happen as people are traveling through, the CEO acknowledged, but he said it\u2019s mostly due to the district\u2019s strong reputation and the lack of some services at the northern end of the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good number of patients coming from Fortuna, Eureka; some people come from McKinleyville to see our doctors in the clinic,\u201d Rees said.<\/p>\n

Brown noted this trend as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that come to our hospital who are from Northern Humboldt, where you can\u2019t even get a primary care doctor, or you\u2019re on a waiting list for years, or you\u2019re waiting months to get and a CT scan or things like that,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of people have realized that they can just drive down to our place and get it done way faster.\u201d<\/p>\n


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Draft site plan for the replacement hospital and clinics.<\/p>\n

The opposition<\/p>\n

In April, SoHum Health conducted a poll that found 70 percent support for the kind of bond measure laid out in Measure K. If that margin holds true at the ballot box, the measure will pass by a narrow margin. But on social media and at recent community gatherings, critics have ardently pushed back on the proposal.<\/p>\n

Some area residents simply oppose higher taxes. Others see some vaguely defined conspiracy afoot. A few have complained that most of the hospital\u2019s senior administrators don\u2019t live within district boundaries and thus wouldn\u2019t have to pay the property tax themselves. (Rees countered that he has committed to contributing $50,000 to the project from his own wages.)<\/p>\n

Brown said all of the administrators donate portions of their wages to support the capital campaign. \u201cAnd the reality is that the hospital just can\u2019t find all the talent that it needs within the local small community of Southern Humboldt,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to have doctors and nurses and people with the licenses and expertise that we need, and not all of them are going to be born and raised in Southern Humboldt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell said that while she fully supports SoHum Health and considers the hospital an \u201cabsolutely necessary\u201d part of the community, she\u2019s not endorsing Measure K.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fear is that a 30-year bond is a long time,\u201d she said. \u201cFolks that are in their 60s could be passing that debt on to their children \u2026 and I don\u2019t know that that\u2019s fair to pass on debt to generations forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that the economy in Southern Humboldt, long tied to the cannabis industry, has collapsed, leading to rampant overdue tax bills, liens and foreclosures. Bushnell would have preferred Measure K to include a cap to prevent some property owners from paying a disproportionate share. She noted that some residents may have inherited ranches that are worth millions on paper, but that value doesn\u2019t reflect their true financial position.<\/p>\n

In talking to constituents, Bushnell said she\u2019s heard similar opinions.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of folks have that same [stance] that I have,\u201d she said. \u201cThey support the hospital, they know we need a hospital, and they\u2019re just unsure whether they can afford it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also argued that SoHum Health should have done more community outreach before now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 100% know we have to have a hospital here,\u201d Bushnell said. \u201c[But] you can\u2019t price your community out, because your community will leave. You have to have your community still here to support the hospital and make it work for everyone. I\u2019m just not sure quite how to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n


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Site of the proposed new hospital, off Sprowl Creek Road, just west of Hwy. 101.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s at stake<\/p>\n

Brown noted the flip side of Bushnell\u2019s equation: If the hospital were to close down, she said, \u201cThere\u2019d be tons of people that would just have to leave the community because they wouldn\u2019t feel safe living somewhere where there\u2019s no emergency department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Rees, Brown said she understands that Measure K is a big ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, people\u2019s cost of living is going up by the day, practically,\u201d she said. \u201cBut my perception is that the vast majority of people really understand the value of the hospital to the community as an employer, as somewhere that to go in an emergency [and] as an economic driver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Measure K has received endorsements from Healy Senior Center, Redwoods Rural Health Center, City Ambulance, Inc., the Redwood Playhouse and state Assemblymembers Chris Rogers and Damon Connolly.<\/p>\n

We asked Rees to consider what will happen if the district\u2019s polling overstated community support.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t pass, I mean, our chances of getting a hospital built and meeting the 2030 [seismic] deadline are \u2014 it\u2019s basically impossible,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The district would then fail to qualify for the USDA loan, Brown said, and various other pieces of the district\u2019s financial puzzle would fall apart. For example, a $5 million grant received by SoHum Health requires construction to begin within two years.<\/p>\n

If the new hospital isn\u2019t built by the time the 2030 deadline rolls around, it doesn\u2019t mean that the existing Jerold Phelps facility will have to immediately close its doors. But it would make the district ineligible for certain permits. A health care facility in Yreka recently applied for a permit to replace its broken HVAC system and was denied because it\u2019s not in compliance with state seismic standards, according to Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s like an indirect way of making it impossible to keep providing health services at that location,\u201d she said. \u201cYou obviously can\u2019t operate if the HVAC goes out or the plumbing goes out or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether the failure of Measure K could mean the end of Jerold Phelps Community Hospital, Rees responded, \u201cIt could.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he does have some contingency plans. He said he would try to get state legislation granting an extension for compliance with the seismic deadline. (California already offered such an extension, but SoHum Health and several other districts declined to pursue it, largely because no one saw the funding cuts in HR 1 coming, Rees said.) <\/p>\n

He\u2019s also working on legislation, called the Construction Renovation Reimbursement Program, that would cover about 30 percent of the cost of the bond. This legislation has support from the California Hospital Association, the Association of California Healthcare Districts and other organizations.<\/p>\n

At the end of our conversation, Rees circled back to where he started.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s a big ask for the community, I do,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I appreciate any support we can get for this. I know that there\u2019s going to be no votes, and I know there\u2019s going to be yes votes. And hopefully we\u2019ll have the two thirds that we need to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n


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