Several projects to expand parts of the University Medical Center and help fund a cancer center would be financed by $396.6 million in bonds if approved by El Paso County voters in November.
El Paso County Commissioners Court Monday unanimously approved putting the bond issue on the Nov. 5 general election ballot.
Commissioners oversee the county-operated hospital in Central El Paso.
The county also is expected to approve Monday putting a $323.8 million bond issue on the same November ballot to pay for a variety of public projects in the county.
The UMC bond issue would increase property taxes by $70 per year on a home with an expected average taxable value of $220,000 in 2025, Michael Nunez, UMC chief financial officer, told commissioners.
The money, if approved by voters, would be used to add more surgery units, 23 critical care beds, a burn unit on the hospital’s eighth floor, a geriatric clinic in Central El Paso, a parking garage on the hospital’s campus, expand its outside clinics, and provide about $30 million for a planned $95 million El Paso comprehensive cancer care center to be opened by Texas Tech University, Maria Zampini, UMC chief operating officer, told commissioners.
Almost two years ago, a similarly priced proposal by UMC officials was stopped by a petition with more than 32,000 validated signatures of county voters against raising property taxes for the projects.
Dr. Richard Lange, president of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, two other Texas Tech doctors and three El Pasoans provided life-saving medical care at the hospital spoke in favor of the bond initiative. No one spoke against it.
Texas Tech doctors work at UMC through a partnership.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter, now known as X.