Translate[Archived] Question # 35: Please provide the funding amounts of what our comparator jurisdictions are providing to their local hospital(s) aside from any COVID-19 related expenses.
Question:
Please provide the funding amounts of what our comparator jurisdictions are providing to their local hospital(s) aside from any COVID-19 related expenses. (Vice Mayor Bennett-Parker)
Response:
The City has an agreement with INOVA Alexandria Hospital to provide the hospital with approximately $1.0 million in supplemental funding to offset charity care to medically indigent, pregnant, Alexandria residents by providing care starting at 13 weeks to support the birth of healthy babies.
Staff reviewed proposed budget documents from Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William Counties and communicated with budget staff in those jurisdictions. Apart from the City of Alexandria, no other Northern Virginia jurisdiction makes an annual contribution to their local hospitals. Local jurisdictions in this region do have contractual relationships with non-profit hospitals, where the hospital provides a service and the local government pays for all or some portion of the service (i.e., laboratory services, pharmaceutics, physical examinations and medical evaluations).
Many jurisdictions assist their local hospitals with capital financing through jurisdictional industrial development authority issuance of tax-exempt revenue conduit bonds. Some Northern Virginia jurisdictions, such as Fairfax County and Arlington County, provide capital dollars to non-profit hospitals as part of land acquisition agreements or large redevelopment plans. In 2019, Arlington County purchased 11.6-acres of Virginia Hospital Center (VHC) owned land on Carlin Springs Road in exchange for the transfer of land owned by the County which was adjacent to the VHC main campus. Similarly, Fairfax County’s FY 2022-FY 2026 Proposed CIP plans for the integrated development of land owned by Fairfax County and Inova at Reston Town Center North, which may require an exchange of real estate as part of planned replacement projects. Fairfax County has previously purchased land and then leased it to INOVA long-term for a nominal amount.
Finally, the City and other Virginia jurisdictions indirectly support non-profit hospitals’ operating costs by providing real property tax exemptions and business tangible property tax exemptions. The tax exemption is in recognition of the non-profit hospital status as well as charity care provision. INOVA reports $33.5 million in total unreimbursed charity care services for Alexandria residents in 2020. For Alexandria, this means an estimated $2.3 million in real estate taxes, based on a tax rate of $1.13 per $100 of assessed value, is not levied on INOVA Alexandria’s property. In addition, exemptions from business tangible property taxation would add significantly to this real property tax exemption amount.