Board approves tax rate for 2024-2025

• Board approves tax rate for 2024-2025

  Board approves tax rate for 2024-2025

• Board approves tax rate for 2024-2025

  Board approves tax rate for 2024-2025

Hopkins County Hospital District Board of Directors approved a new tax rate for fiscal year 2024-2025 at their September meeting. They also conducted an annual performance review for HCHD CEO and Hopkins County EMS Director Brent Smith.

Overall financials

August financials “did really well,” Smith said.

“We definitely had a good pickup, definitely on the EMS side. Overall, for the year, we’re looking in pretty good shape.”

Financials showed a net profit of $80,000, which included nursing home revenue

Fiscal year 2024-2025 tax rate

Board President Kerry Law then moved on to the review and approval of the hospital district’s tax rate for the fiscal year beginning Tuesday, Oct. 1 and ending Sept. 30, 2025.

The proposed and nonew revenue tax rates was $0.151886, while the voter approval tax rate, which is the calculated maximum rate allowed by law without voter approval, was $0.192786.

The 2024-2025 rate is a $0.325773 decrease from the FY 2023-2024 tax rate of $0.173887.

Board member Joe Bob Burgin made a motion, seconded by Dr. David Black, to approve the tax rate of $0.151886 per $100 valuation. All board members approved the proposed tax rate.

Law thanked Smith and his administration staff for all their hard work on putting together the new tax rate.

QIPP program update

Quality Incentive Payment Program, which was first implemented statewide Sept. 1, 2017, allows nursing facilities to improve their care quality through innovation. Coordinator Angelia Waller, who oversees the state nursing home improvement program, reported that HCHD just started QIPP year eight on Sept. 1, 2024, and has not yet received any funds.

“We won’t start receiving funds until October or November,” she told trustees.

Smith echoed Waller’s statement, saying, “This is kind of a quiet period, August through October, and November is pretty quiet too. Then, we start picking back up,” Smith said.

HCHD currently has partnerships with four QIPP facilities in Dallas, Lindale, Longview and Tyler.

Hospital update

Smith reported that the CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital-Sulphur Springs 75th anniversary celebration was successful. Law, on behalf of the entire board, specially thanked Waller for her participation on the anniversary committee and the work she put in. Law mentioned he especially enjoyed the history piece of the program.

Smith also reported that HCHD closed on the purchase of three properties as of Sept. 13. All land surveys have been received and finalized, HCHD is in the final stages of the ground lease for the new medical office buildings with CHRISTUS. The buildings will be located at 215 Airport Road.

HCEMS update

“August volumes were great,” Smith said. “We had pretty heavy volumes in Hopkins and Rains [Counties]. Delta County even had a[n increase] in volume. Franklin [County] was down just a hair, but overall, August was a really good month.”

HCEMS deployed personnel in August, Smith reported, which resulted in around $54,000 in revenue. He explained that department staff members were deployed and pre-positioned for around 54 hours in response to Tropical Storm/Hurricane Francine, which formed as a tropical cyclone on Sept. 8, strengthened into a tropical storm Sept. 9, and further strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane and made landfall in Louisiana at around 5 p.m. Sept. 11, and a total of 51 times since 2020.

HCEMS also deployed for Hurricane Beryl, a Category 5 hurricane that impacted areas of the Caribbean after making landfall July 1, 2024, in Grenada. The storm weakened and intensified multiple times over several days before entering the Gulf of Mexico. It made landfall in Matagorda, Texas, one week later. It also spawned severe flooding, wind damage and a tornado outbreak across multiple U.S. states and into Canada.

Smith said he has been tracking HCEMS deployments — 51 total since 2020, and 10 so far in 2024 — and income from 2020 through August 2024, which totals $2,443,790.38 in 4.75 years.

HCEMS has received the following revenue amounts:

„ $561,972.17 in 2020, mostly due to COVID.

„ $298.980.09 in 2021, mostly still due to COVID.

„ $131,894.53 in 2022, due to wildland fires or unplanned, unwanted fires burning in natural areas, such as forests, grasslands or prairies.

„ $279,091.60 in 2023, on the department’s first wildland fire activation through Texas Emergency Medical Task Force, as well as a severe storm that lasted 10 days in HCEMS’ region; and „ $1,171,851.99 so far in 2024.

“We were allowed to jump in on a lot of this revenue in [20]24,” Smith said, “and I see that continuing on in [20]25. We’ve been able to expand our capabilities. We’ve increased our employees PRN-wise [on an as-needed basis], even in full-time. We don’t have nearly [as much] turnover that we were having, plus, we’ve increased our equipment. Generally, when they call to deploy us, we don’t say no — we’re right out the door. That’s pretty significant.

“Hurricane Beryl, alone, was an estimated $325,000 [in revenue on] a 10-day deployment,” Smith said. “But, substantially, that amount comes from the amount of equipment we send. We were able to send four spare ambulances, two AMBUSes, plus four supervisors. Every piece of equipment that goes out is generating money. I wanted you to see the trend. I was kind of surprised at this significant jump we’ve had in 2024.

Smith took a moment to compliment his EMS staff.

“We have a really good split right now,” he said. “Some employees want to deploy, and others want to backfill. Some stay here and work the open shifts. The good thing about the deployments is the State makes us whole. Texas Division of Emergency Management is even [reimbursing] the overtime and benefit rates of the employees who cover shifts for the people that are gone. We have a good mix — about 60% that want to go, and about 40% that stay to cover.

Concluding his update, Smith said, “Right now, as we finish up the end of September, and into October, I’ll be renewing HCHD’s Drug Enforcement Agency and department’s state health license for EMS providers. We’re invoicing, getting all this [revenue] in on all the deployments, and then our compliance stuff we need to finish.”

Executive session

During executive session, the HCHD board conducted Smith’s annual review. Smith said the board expressed their appreciation and told him to keep up the good work.