Mackinac County voters, on May 3, will be asked to approve a 1.2-mill operations tax to support Mackinac Straits Hospital and Health Center for the next five years. The millage is a continuation of a millage that was first voted in 1989, except it has been reduced from 1.5 mills to 1.4 mills and now to 1.2 mills.

The current millage expired in December and a renewal was rejected by county voters last November, possibly because of the lengthy presidential ballot, say hospital officials. This is the second attempt at passage, which Hospital CEO Rod Nelson said is necessary to support the medical services provided by the facility.

Converted to taxes, one mill is assessed as $1 for each $1,000 of taxable value. The owner of a house with a taxable value of $50,000, assessed 1.2 mills, would pay $60 in taxes a year.

“I think we are feeling good about the vote,” Hospital Board Chairman Ron Mitchell told The St. Ignace News this week. “Everybody who talks to me says they can’t believe this isn’t going to pass.”

The millage failure last November, however, following a low-key campaign, still plagues the hospital board. While it failed by only 400 votes, out of 6,700 votes cast, hospital officials worry that residents don’t take the millage seriously. The $900,000 the millage will raise, they stress, subsidizes the revenues needed for everyday operations.

Since the millage was first approved by voters in 1989, when the hospital faced serious financial problems and curtailed emergency room service, the board has slowly turned the picture around. Operations are smooth, employee relations are good, and new services, such as dialysis and chemotherapy, have brought new revenue to the facility, improving the profit picture.

The new revenue sources have allowed the hospital to reduce the millage to 1.2 mills, Mr. Nelson said. But he doubts that it will ever be clear of public subsidy.

“For me,” he said at a January board meeting, “it’s a forever and ever thing. If you want a hospital, you’re going to have to pay millage.”

Mackinac Straits Hospital now operates the Mackinac Island Medical Center and the clinic in Naubinway, provides 24-hour emergency room service, and operates a 91-bed long-term care facility. Visiting specialists from Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey are convenient for Mackinac County residents, Mr. Nelson said, because they save travel time to distant hospitals.

Meeting at Garfield Township Monday, April 18, Mr. Mitchell and trustee Richard Smith assured residents there that the Naubinway clinic made about $3,000 in the last fiscal year, a positive sign that the clinic will continue to serve the west end of the county.

And this year, it looks like the hospital will make about $100,000 profit, Mr. Mitchell said, but that is with the millage contribution of about $900,000. So if voters reject the millage, the board will have to reduce services by about $800,000.

“It would be a real shame if we have to do that, after years and years” of turning things around, he said. “It seems we’re right on the cusp of success.”

Mr. Nelson, Mr. Mitchell, and other board members are campaigning for the millage at all 11 townships, and have received endorsements from all but Clark, Newton, Hudson, Marquette, and Portage. Presentations are also being made to service clubs and the Hospital Auxiliary has been raising money for campaign literature and advertisements.

Mr. Mitchell said many of the people appear to support the millage, except in the far corners of the county, where residents jump county lines to hospitals in Sault Ste. Marie, Newberry, and Manistique. Even they, however, he said, appreciate Dr. Ed Smith’s oncology services at Mackinac Straits Hospital and the long term care facility.

There is some confusion, he added, that the millage will be used for a new hospital being planned near the Mackinac County Airport in St. Ignace, but the millage only supports the hospital operations, not construction. The new hospital, he said, will provide many new services and incorporate new medical care concepts, but it is not expected to be funded by local taxes. Estimated now to cost up to $33 million, the project will be a partnership between the county and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians that will seek federal funding and federal loan guarantees, and grants for creative use of energy, and, hopefully, grants to encourage the unique partnership with the tribe.

But even though there won’t be any millage for the new facility, the May 3 ballot issue could have some impact. To take advantage of the federal and state initiatives that will fund the new hospital, he said, the success will depend on the numbers. “If the millage fails,” he said, “somebody is going to look at the local support” and question whether the community is behind quality medical care.

So for now, the board’s full attention is on the May 3 election.

“I believe 60 percent of the people who vote will vote for the millage,” he declared. “I’m feeling very comfortable.”