People have been asking, “Why would I vote AGAINST my local hospital?”
Signs have been popping up all over Freestone County that read to vote AGAINST in the upcoming tax rollback election. In this case a vote against is a vote in support of Freestone Medical Center.
A Special Rollback Election for the Fairfield Hospital District is being held November 3, 2020. It was originally scheduled for May but was postponed due to COVID-19.
The wording on the upcoming ballot will read, “Reducing the tax rate in Fairfield Hospital District for the current year from 0.215 to 0.137203.”
So, if you want to see the tax rate reduced for fiscal year 2019-2020, you would vote for, meaning you want the Hospital District to refund taxpayer money.
If you do not want to see the tax rate reduced for fiscal year 2019-2020, you would vote against, meaning the Hospital District would keep the property tax that has been collected.
Voters may be confused by the wording on this ballot with the use of the words ‘current year’. This wording was to be originally used in the May election.
In this case “current year” means 2019-2020 fiscal year.
When the election was postponed due to COVID-19 the State would not allow the wording to be changed on the ballot.
By the time the election is held, the Fairfield Hospital District will have moved into the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
For anymore questions, contact a member of the Fairfield Hospital District Board.
