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Assembly to host hearing on moving Central Peninsula Hospital service area south

Photo Courtesy of South Peninsula Hospital

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will host a public hearing at the Ninilchik School Thursday evening on an ordinance that would move the Central Peninsula Hospital’s service area boundary south of Ninilchik.

The current boundary sits just south of Clam Gulch at about mile 119 on the Sterling Highway.

If the measure is approved, the South Peninsula Hospital would lose about $195,000 in tax revenue annually. Assembly member Dale Bagley is sponsoring the measure and says Ninilchik residents should not have to pay the SPH service area’s substantially higher mill rate, which sits at 2.35 mills. Bagley argues that a majority of residents in the area utilize CPH’s services. Residents in the service area pay next to nothing at .01 mills.

However, Ninilchik residents would still be on the hook for debt South Peninsula Hospital has taken on and would continue to pay a portion of the current mill rate. Bagley says it could take up to 10 years for that debt to be paid off.

The assembly is set to vote on the proposal on May 1. If approved, voters in the CPH service area would then have to vote in favor of expanding its boundary.   Thursday’s public hearing starts at 6 p.m. 

Aaron Bolton has moved on to a new position in Montana; he is no longer KBBI News Director. KBBI is currently seeking a News Director, and Kathleen Gustafson is filling in for the time being.
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