The Hospital District last week voted to slightly reduce its property tax rate, but due to increasing home values taxpayers will still see a few-dollar bump in what they’ll owe the Hospital District compared to last year.

The seven-member board of trustees split 4-3 on the issue in favor of the tiny rate cut on Sept. 17 during a monthly Chairman’s roundtable meeting, with Chairman Dr. Bill Cooney pushing for higher taxes to fund care for the county’s poor and uninsured. At that meeting, Vice Chair Kerry Bartlett and Trustee Karen Deigl joined Cooney in voting to keep the tax rate the same as last year, 76.5 cents per $1,000 taxable value.

“We do not best serve our community by holding property taxes to the lowest possible level. Rather, we fulfill our mission by investing in an innovative and integrated healthcare network that delivers essential services,” Cooney said.

On Sept. 18 at the district’s final budget hearing, however, Cooney was a no-show and Bartlett, acting as chair, voted with Treasurer Michael Kint, Trustees Paul Westcott, Allen Jones and Dr. Chuck Mackett for a rate of 74.5 cents per $1,000 taxable value.

Trustees rejected 11 new grant requests, opted against $350,000 in new internal staff-directed initiatives, and voted to taper funding to several existing programs that do not forward the Hospital District core mission.

Programs that saw their funding cut included the nonprofit organization Deigl heads as CEO, the Senior Resource Association.

Funding for the Senior Resource Association’s Meals on Wheels program will be sunset over the next three years, leaving Deigl and her staff to raise funds to keep the program going. Deigl’s organization requested $1.4 million in this budget cycle but was approved for $982,000.

The lower tax rate of 74.5 cents per $1,000 taxable value will not pad reserves with $1 million-plus dollars trustees could give to pet causes outside the regular funding cycle, but it keeps reserves healthy enough to earmark $2 million in the coming year to fund a sustainability plan for maternity services in Vero (see related story).

The upcoming budget includes tax revenue of $23.7 million and operating expenses of $25.37 million, funded via taxes, interest on investments and some drawing-down of reserves for high-priority items. The approved budget represents a 17 percent increase over the 2024-25 budget of $21.7 million.