Pima County has renewed its $15 million payment to Banner-University Medical Center South.
The county makes the payment each year to run the hospital, formerly the county-run Kino Community Hospital at 2800 E. Ajo Way, and to fund the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine graduate medical education program.
The county Board of Supervisors approved the payment by a 4-1 vote at the board’s regular meeting Tuesday, with Supervisor Ally Miller casting the lone “nay” vote.
County Supervisor Richard Elías moved to approve the payment, saying the hospital is “widely respected and widely needed” as the “only public hospital south of Broadway.”
Miller objected to the payment, saying the county should focus on core services such as repairing roads.
“It would be nice to do,” she said of the payment. “But we can’t afford it.”
Pima County’s payment goes to the Arizona Board of Regents and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. The federal government then matches the county’s contribution 3 to 1.
Supervisor Sharon Bronson said if the county broke the agreement, it would have to take over the hospital’s operation at a cost of $30 million annually.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said the county has made lease payments to the hospital since 2004. Providing public health services for the indigent is a core service of the county, he said.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, the supervisors:
- Approved paying $1.15 million for a railroad crossing on Colossal Cave Road in Vail.
- Approved refinancing sewer, street, and general obligation bonds, which is expected to result in about $14.3 million in savings of interest payments over the next decade.
