millage

The Board of Commissioners of the South Broward Hospital District, which oversees the operations for Memorial Healthcare System, voted on a new millage rate during its September board meeting.

The Board voted to adopt a millage rate of 0.1414 – making this the eighth year in a row that the Board has voted to lower the overall millage rate for the District, resulting in the lowest rate in the history of the South Broward Hospital District.

“The Board has had a long-standing philosophy of driving down the tax burden on the community while continuing to deliver outstanding care to our patients and improving the overall health of the population we serve,” said Douglas Harrison, Chairman of the South Broward Hospital District Board of Commissioners.  

The 0.1414 millage rate represents a 5.48 percent decrease from last year’s rate of 0.1496. The resulting gross tax revenues are estimated to reach $8.3 million. After accounting for early payment discounts and a certain percentage of uncollectible taxes, the anticipated tax payments this year of $8 million will provide the District enough revenue to cover its governmental obligations, which include paying Broward County’s Medicaid Match program and community redevelopment agencies in several municipalities in south Broward County, as well as tax collector commissions and property appraiser fees.

With only $266,000 in net tax revenue remaining from the newly adopted millage rate, the District will use operating income to cover substantially all uncompensated care costs for the entire Memorial Healthcare System, including its six hospitals and its eight South Broward Community Health Services clinics. In fiscal year 2019, uncompensated care is projected to exceed $948 million.

This historic reduction comes at a time when Memorial Healthcare System has made significant strides in the areas of safety and technology, while offering a comprehensive array of services, such as cardiac and kidney transplant, Level 1 trauma services, stroke care, maternity and many others. Memorial’s quality and safety has been recognized nationally by Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization that collects and transparently reports hospital performance.

Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute continues to receive outstanding ratings from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, placing us in the top 1% of U.S. cardiovascular centers for 2017. Memorial also remains one of only a handful of public hospitals in the nation to achieve AA, Aa3 financial ratings by Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s, respectively.